Please respond to my classmates discussion post
(Jessica)
Understanding and Mitigating Health Inequities — Past, Current, and Future Directions
This article discusses how research has shed light on health disparities among minority groups compared with white people. The first institute to shed light on this was the Institute of Medicine (IOM) back in the 1970s (now the National Academy of Medicine-NAM). Research showed that more Black people died from cancer and American Indians had higher diabetes rates than White people. In 1985, Secretary Margaret Heckler released the first U.S. government report focusing on racial and ethnic minorities’ health. The report, Black and Minority Health, showed these groups had a higher rate of disease and their life expectancy was low. The Office of Minority Health was created in 1986 to improve the health of minority groups by applying health policies and programs. Data collection has helped in the efforts to reduce racial and ethnic disparities, but it also showed the inequalities faced by Asian and Latinx people; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people; and people with disabilities. In 1998, Socioeconomic Status and Health Chartbook, published by the National Center for Health Statistics studied “the associations between health and socioeconomic status and between race and health for a broad range of outcomes.” The IOM reported on the lack of insurance access preventing individuals from seeking care which contributes to the health disparities. These reports link community health inequalities to their insurance status. The IOM, Unequal Treatment, “explored the continuum of services from hospital-based care to rehabilitation and long-term, home-based, and outpatient care.” The IOM report, Promoting Health, shifted the way researchers and policymakers focused on strategies that help a community reduce health disparities. These reports have shown researchers that health disparities will not decline by targeting individual clinical conditions by exploring structural factors. The research in this article proposes that if we address the effects of “racism, ethnocentrism, homophobia, unequal treatment based on immigration status, and sexism on health will be beneficial for overall health status and outcomes.” The article made an excellent statement that researchers and policymakers must look closer at the root causes of health disparities if we want to get to a point where “a person’s health prospects are no longer predicted by the social construct of race.”
Compose a question to be answered by your classmates
What are some ways to reduce health inequalities?
Reference
Lavizzo-Mourey R., Besser R., Williams D. (2021, May 6). A Half-Century of Progress in Health: The National Academy of Medicine at 50 Understanding and Mitigating Health Inequities — Past, Current, and Future Directions. N Engl J Med 2021; 384:1681-1684
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp2008628. Retrieved from https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMp2008628?articleTools=true
