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Health Disparities Among African Americans

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Health Disparities Among African Americans
Health Disparities Faced by African Americans and Mexican Americans
Christie Rice
Nursing 410, 6851380 June 9, 2013
Abstract
Health disparities exist in the United States based on race, sex, age, disabilities, socioeconomic status and geographic location. A specific look at race will find many contributing factors. Mexican Americans and African Americans have large gaps of disparities when compared with Caucasians regarding hypertension. Closing this gap will require, access to healthcare, education and early detection. The nurses role to help relieve the disparities begins with educating the patient and identifying resources to assist the patient.

Health
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Factors contributing to health disparities include race, sex, age, disability, socioeconomic status, and geographic location. Health disparities can mean earlier deaths, decreased quality of life, and loss of economic opportunities(CDC). Healthy People 2010 goal was to eliminate health disparities and the 2020 goal was to achieve health equity, eliminate disparities and improve the health of all groups (Healthy People 2020). In the US, many gaps exist however the specific gap of interest will be based on race. Examine and compare factors that cause disparities in race. Strategies for improving health disparities include access to healthcare, education, and early screening and treatment. Nurses can help close the gap of disparities by educating patients and families regarding the importance of taking medication, keeping all doctor 's appointments, and following diet and exercise …show more content…
However, with the work of the World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control vaccination and testing for HIV are more readily available to everyone. In the state of Tennessee, childhood immunization is at 91.4%, this is a great increase over the past 20 years(CDC). The rise in immunization is impart related to availability. Many organizations such as Healthy People 2020, the WHO and CDC, have made vaccinations of preventable diseases to all people a goal. The Health Department offers free vaccines which are funded by the CDC through programs such as Vaccines for Children programs. The vaccination programs save 33,000 lives a year and and reduces health care cost by $9.9 billion a year (Healthy People). The WHO is working to prevent people from becoming infected with HIV, by providing education, expanding availability to treatment(WHO). In 2012, the CDC gave $339 million to Health Department across the U.S. for HIV prevention. More people now have access to treatment and testing. Education and availability of treatment is slowing rate of HIV/AIDS and people are living longer with the

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