Major Health Concerns That Are Neglected Among African Americans

Do you know that African Americans do not have access to modern health care and treatments? In this article, you will know about the major health concerns that black communities suffer from but they are being neglected.

You will be surprised to hear that several health issues exist between the African Americans that are neglected usually. Whether during the COVID situation or in general, the doctors are always discriminating between the white people and the Hispanic groups.

The doctors expect to check the health of the older patients to find out whether they suffer from heart disease, stroke, or diabetes, but these issues are also visible among the young generations. Though genetics play an important role in some cases, socio-economic factors also hugely impact how African Americans are neglected in the health department. If you count the black people together in the USA, very few of them receive good treatment from the doctors.

Heart diseases

Generally, heart diseases are the top most common diseases that kill Americans. However, if you carefully check, the rate of heart disease has decreased steadily among Americans since 1970. But the rates are not declining among the Black people.

The data tells that the issue is not that African Americans suffer more from heart disease. Still, the survival chance of this group in a cardiovascular event is not high compared to the other groups of people. Even if you see, the young generation who falls between 18–50 has two times more chance to die in heart ailments than the white people.

The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, which Provides further access to healthcare among Americans. This access has increased the survival rate of African Americans, but the issues still exist.

Cancer

Cancer is the second most common disease among African Americans. The Hispanic group suffers 50% more than the white people, and they suffer more from lung cancer. Black people experience issues like enlarged prostate and prostate cancer, and they die from cancer faster than any other racial group. The black women under the age of 35 experience a 35% higher chance of breast cancer than the Caucasian women group who live in the U.S.

All these indicate that these groups of people have low access to healthcare compared to the white people living in America. For example, they cannot get good treatments post-surgery of cancer like chemotherapy and radiation. This further leads to more complications and higher death rates. For example, the Hispanic group is three times more die from breast cancer compared to Caucasian women.

Peripheral Artery Diseases

Peripheral artery disease or PAD is the condition that develops when the arteries become clogged due to the accumulation of fat that further limits blood circulation. This issue is more common among the Black Community in the USA, and every 20 people among 50 suffer from it. This is further attributed to several risk factors like the conditions that raise the risk of developing PAD syndrome, including diabetes and high blood pressure.

Diabetes

Diabetes or high blood sugar is one of the major concerns among the black communities in the United States. Black people suffer two times more than white people in terms of diabetes. They also suffer from the complications related to this particular health issue, like end-stage renal disease and lower-extremity amputations.

Sickle cell disease

It is seen that a tiny percentage of white people suffer from sickle cell anaemia. But if you see this disease among the black people, out of 500, 1 suffer from this. So this health condition affects more than 90,000 black people as per the “National Institute of Health.”

The only treatment for this is the bone marrow or stem cell transplant that generally collects the healthy red blood cells from one patient and then transfers the same to the patient suffering sickle cell disease. Healthy stem cells will help in making new healthy cells in the body. However, such treatments are painful and expensive too. In addition, the black communities are often neglected to treat as it increases the rate of infection.

Stroke

The vascular diseases that affect the arteries and veins in the body also affect the African American people. Stroke impacts black people more than white communities, even at a younger age.

Solving The Treatment Gap

Various organizations now fight for black communities’ rights and help them get better access to medical aid and treatments. As a result, doctors have become much more concerned about the sufferings of the Hispanic groups, trying to improve their health conditions. If you want to help the black communities, you can come forward and join the movement from Blacks United!

Author

Chris Dawkins

Chief Operating Officer at E-Log Plus

The Ohio University

San Antonio, Texas