Environmental racism, by definition, includes disproportionate exposure to pollutants and toxicants for people of color. This exposure is partially due to segregation, which “leads minorities to have higher risk of exposure to toxic chemicals at the individual, household, and neighborhood level” (Williams & Mohammed, 2013). For example, African Americans are more likely than Whites and other racial and ethnic groups to live in inner-city, urban environments, where pollutants from vehicle exhaust and factory production are often concentrated (Thayer & Kuzawa, 2011). According to research done by Thayer & Kuwaza, in mice these pollutants have been shown to modify epigenetic markers as well as the DNA methyltransferase (dnmt) enzymes that catalyze …show more content…
Instead, African Americans face systemic barriers to quality healthcare that exacerbate existing health disparities. Along with other racial and ethnic minority groups, African Americans are considered an underserved group in the US healthcare system. In Essentials of the U.S. Health Care System, Shi & Singh define underserved populations as “population groups in the United States [that] either face greater barriers than the general population in accessing timely and needed health care services or…have special health-related issues that may go unaddressed” (2017). For many African Americans, these barriers may include a distrust of medical institutions, provider biases, poorer access to primary care, poorer quality of care, lack of insurance, and low socioeconomic status, among others (Disparities in Healthcare Quality, 2012). One consequential example of this access disparity is seen in access to prenatal care. Prenatal care has the potential to reduce nutrition deficits and improve birth outcome for high risk pregnant individuals (National Institutes of Health, n.d.). Despite this, African Americans, who have some of the highest rates of poor birth outcomes, have some of the highest …show more content…
However, more research is needed in order to apply this knowledge of epigenetic changes to making tangible progress toward improving the health and quality of life of African Americans. Moreover, public health initiatives must be enacted to apply any recommendations found in further research. Specifically, because epigenetic changes are often transgenerational and therefore persistent, research should focus on the reversal of the harmful changes that can occur. For example, research on the epigenetic modifications due to diet and nutrition should be followed by research on compounds that can partially reverse the effects of vitamin deficiency in utero. This research should then be developed into a public health initiative that would implement this solution in low income communities of color where vitamin deficiencies are common. In addition, much of the current research on racial health disparities focuses on Black/White disparities. Future research should focus on how the nuanced experiences of other racial groups influence their health outcomes. While the science behind how social phenomena are manifested in the body is fascinating, it is not the end goal. Tangible improvements in the quality of life and health outcomes of African Americans and other racial and ethnic
Health disparity is one of the burdens that contributes to our healthcare system in providing equal healthcare to everyone regarding of race, age, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status to achieve good health. Research reveals that racial and ethnic minorities are likely to receive lower quality of healthcare services than white Americans.
Studies have analyzed how African Americans deal with an enormous amount of disease, injury, death, and disability compared to other ethnic group, and whites, Utilization of health services by African Americans is less frequent than other ethnic groups in the country. This non utilization of services contributes to health disparities amongst African Americans in the United States. Current and past studies have shown that because of discrimination, medical mistrust, racial/ethnic background, and poor communication African Americans tend to not seek medical care unless they are in dire need or forced to seek professional care. African Americans would rather self –medicate than to trust a doctor who might show some type of discriminatory
In recent discussions of health care disparities, a controversial issue has been whether racism is the cause of health care disparities or not. On one hand, some argue that racism is a serious problem in the health care system. From this perspective, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) states that there is a big gap between the health care quality received by minorities, and the quality of health care received by non-minorities, and the reason is due to racism. On the other hand, however, others argue that health care disparities are not due to racism. In the words of Sally Satel, one of this view’s main proponents, “White and black patients, on average don’t even visit the same population of physicians” (Satel 1), hence this reduces the chances of racism being the cause of health care disparities. According to this view, racism is not a serious problem in the health care system. In sum, then, the issue is whether racism is a major cause of health care disparities as the Institute of Medicine argues or racism is not really an issue in the health care system as suggested by Sally Satel.
First, I will give out some statistics of infant mortality rates in America. According to an Amnesty International report, two maternal deaths occur every day for African-American women. Even though 99% of birth-related deaths happen in developing countries, these numbers for African American women in a country with world renowned health facilities are discouraging.
The disparities in the healthcare system contribute to the overall health status disparities that affect ethnic and racial minorities. The sources of ethnic and racial healthcare disparities include cultural barriers, geography differences, or healthcare provider stereotyping. In addition, difficulties in communication between health care providers and patients, lack of access to healthcare providers, and lack of access to adequate health care coverage
Have you ever been discriminated against simply because your skin is darker than the next person? Have you ever been told by someone that “your pretty for a dark skin girl or boy?” Have you ever been racist toward your own race? Since long before we or our parents were born, the black community has faced this problem with racism within the same race. In the black community, it is said that if a person have a lighter skin complexion, than they are superior to those with a darker skin complexion. Racism within the black community is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.
As a first world country American infants should have a seemingly better start at life than many other countries. In recent decades America has made a strident effort in the progress towards lower Infant mortality rates resulting in a decline from 12.1-6.2 ( ). However, there is a concerning disparity between white American babies and black American babies in terms of infant mortality. The current Infant mortality rate for non-Hispanic white women is 5.11 deaths per 1,000 births. For Non-Hispanic black women the rate is 11.42 deaths per 1,000 births.. A high rate of infant mortality is seen equally in African Americans across the strata of the racial group showing no prejudice to SES, education, and other intrinsic factors such as education or access to health care. African American infant mortality rates are a severe social disparity in modern America as compared to other minority and non-minority groups regardless of SES, educational status, and age. This alarmingly oppositional data is both puzzling and startling to public health professionals and doctors alike as they attempt to determine a direct cause for such a devastating disparity
Because genetic makeup of monozygotic twins is nearly identical, phenotypic traits and heritable diseases such as autoimmune disease, cardiovascular, cancer, asthma and diabetes and mental health disease are often matching and manifest in both siblings, however these diseases can happen in only one sibling, suggesting other factors are involved such as environment playing a role in determining phenotypic differences (Genome, 2017). Epigenetic modifications, cellular changes that influence expression of genes are now widely recognised to influence phenotype and frequently occur in disease. As well as this, environmental factors such as diet and chemical exposure can change the epigenetic status of genes (Genome,
Williams, D. R., & Jackson, P. (2014, April 1). Health Affairs. Social Sources Of Racial Disparities In Health. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/2/325.short
There are many social determinants that are present in our society, yet many of these determinants are not discussed. This is due to the fact that categorizing and discussing social groups and determinants is often seen as controversial. Although this may be true, comprehending and discussing these determinants are essential, as many of these determinants affect our health. These determinants affect our health simply by altering our own actions as well as the environment around us. Thus, comprehension of social determinants, the environment, and its ultimate connection with an individual’s lifestyle is essential in assessing many of the public health issues prevalent
Implicit factors include horrific physical and mental issues like, a degraded quality of life and illnesses, or in rare cases, complete annihilation of communities because of the uncontrolled hazards of contaminants by nonchalant institutions. Chronic exposure to pollutants has long term side effects with genetic repercussions too.
The Association of Black Psychologist (ABP) (2013) defines colorism as skin-color stratification. Colorism is described as “internalized racism” that is perceived to be a way of life for the group that it is accepted by (ABP 2013). Moreover, colorism is classified as a persistent problem within Black American. Colorism in the process of discriminatory privileges given to lighter-skinned individuals of color over their darker- skinned counterparts (Margret Hunter 2007). From a historical standpoint, colorism was a white constructed policy in order to create dissention among their slaves as to maintain order or obedience. Over the centuries, it seems that the original purpose of colorism remains. Why has this issue persisted? Blacks have been able to dismantle the barriers faced within the larger society of the United States. Yet, Blacks have failed to properly address the sins of the past within the ethnic group. As a consequence of this failure, colorism prevails. Through my research, I developed many questions: Is it right that this view remain? How does valuing an individual over another cause distribution to the mental health of the victims of colorism? More importantly, what are the solutions for colorism? Colorism, unfortunately, has had a persisted effect on the lives of Black Americans. It has become so internalized that one cannot differentiate between the view of ourselves that Black Americans adopted from slavery or a more personalized view developed from within the ethnicity. The consequences of this internalized view heightens the already exorbitant mental health concerns within the Black community, but the most unfortunate aspect of colorism is that there is contention on how the issue should be solved.
Despite the substantial developments in diagnostic and treatment processes, there is convincing evidence that ethnic and racial minorities normally access and receive low quality services compared to the majority communities (Lum, 2011). As such, minority groups have higher mortality and morbidity rates arising from both preventable and treatable diseases judged against the majority groups. Elimination of both racial and ethnic disparities is mainly politically sensitive, but plays an important role in the equitable access of services, including the health care ones without discrimination. In addition, accountability, accessibility, and availability of equitable health care services are crucial for the continually growing
Epigenetics is the study of how our environment can affect our genes. The study of epigenetics is fairly new. Recently, researchers have learned how our environment and our nurturing can affect our genes. These factors can affect our behaviors as well as diseases and cancers. As mentioned before, humans have markers on top of their DNA which regulate what works and what doesn't. Research has shown that when a pregnant organism digests food rich in these markers, also known as methyl-groups, their offspring may lower their chances of having cancerous epigenetic changes. In one experiment, researchers fed pregnant female mice a methyl rich diet, in hopes that this will prevent their offspring from getting a gene that caused them to turn fat, yellow and prone to cancer and diabetes. Although their offspring was born with this gene, they were brown, slim and free of cancer and diabetes (“Epigenetics: How Our Experiences Affect Our Offspring”).
The interaction of a human’s genetics will affect the balance of their environment with disease and health. Genetics play an important role on the environment, because of the trigger that reacts to disease. However, gender and age may also affect the interaction with the genetics and environment. The populations are at an increased risk for many diseases with the environmental components, which may include cancer, asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and there are many more diseases or conditions out there.