← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Kurt
Thread ID: 7495 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2003-06-20
2003-06-20 02:58 | User Profile
More Whites need to get sick, or die, or [u]something[/u]... :huh:
[SIZE=2]Racial Bias Has Effect On Health[/SIZE] [url=http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/living/6093022.htm]Beacon Journal[/url] | 06/15/2003 | Diane Evans
**[SIZE=2]Stress of unequal access, socioeconomic status play roles, says expert[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Diane Evans Beacon Journal[/SIZE]**
Kent State University recently sponsored a seminar on "The Impact of Life Stressors on Health Disparities in Society." I missed it, but caught up with the presenter, sociologist Leonard I. Pearlin of the University of Maryland.
We've all surely read about health differences along racial and socioeconomic lines. Pearlin's view, based on 30 years of study, is that explanations for these disparities are often oversimplified. It's not just unequal access to health care, for example. It's stress, too, especially for people who constantly deal with discrimination, however subtle.
"These are not stresses that come and go," Pearlin said. "They persist, and they show up in ill health and disease."
Even experts struggle to explain the scope and complexities associated with health disparities between the rich and poor, especially disfavoring minorities. To begin to grasp the extent of the inequity, spend a little time on the Web site of the Minority Health Project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ([url=http://www.minority.unc.edu]www.minority.unc.edu[/url]). A primary mission of the project is to improve the quality of data on racial and ethnic populations.
It's one thing to catch reports of new findings here or there. The shock comes in beginning to see a fuller picture.
One of the links on the University of North Carolina site is to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which posts information about new studies relating to the health gap. Consider a sampling of findings just in recent months: [list][]One in four children in New York City's Harlem has asthma.[/list][list][]Forty percent of African-American men, 37 percent of Latino men and 21 percent of white men die before the age of 65. Nearly half of all Latino men and 28 percent of African-American men lacked health insurance in 1997, compared to 17 percent of white men.[/list][list][]Approximately 166 blacks in 100,000 had fatal strokes each year from 1991 to 1998, compared to 117 whites per 100,000.[/list][list][]The diabetes rate has grown 50 percent in the past decade, and the Type 2 form now affects 16 million national wide. Hispanics and blacks are twice as likely as whites to be diagnosed with diabetes.[/list][list][]More than one-third of the black men in the United States suffer from hypertension, compared to one-fourth of the white men.[/list][list][]In 1979, the disability rate among children was 40 out of 1,000 for both blacks and whites. By 1999-2000, black children were 13 percent more likely to have disabling conditions.[/list][list][*]U.S. mortality rates from cancer have decreased since 1992, but blacks remain more likely to die of cancer than whites are. Black men have a 20 percent higher cancer incidence and a 40 percent higher cancer mortality rate than white men.[/list]True enough, there are promising areas, such as progress in prenatal care for black women. But the overall story is one of unconscionable disparity.
We're worried about the stock market index? The market reflects our financial health. These numbers reflect our values. And eventually, they'll affect our economy, too, as we pay the cost of sickness.
On one hand, we're talking about a lack of access to medical care, in addition to findings of inequities in treatment even among the insured. On the other hand, we're talking about wellness and everyday living: from eating habits to the availability of gyms in neighborhoods.
"There's a perception that we've reached a level of equality," said Marsha Lillie-Blanton, vice president of health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. "That's not the case." We need greater public awareness, no doubt. We also need compassionate hearts -- to seek equity with honest resolve.
é 2003 Beacon Journal
2003-06-20 12:13 | User Profile
That's amazing! I mean, if racism is the cause of such highly disproportionate health results today then ethnic minorities should have been extinct before the Civil Rights Bill was enacted. Their resilience reminds me of cockroaches.
2003-06-20 16:09 | User Profile
Why say "racial bias" effects health? In modern America, blacks benefit from racial bias.
Why not say "black culture" effects health? That's much closer to the truth.
2003-06-21 02:10 | User Profile
*Originally posted by Happy Hacker@Jun 20 2003, 10:09 * ** Why say "racial bias" effects health? In modern America, blacks benefit from racial bias.
Why not say "black culture" effects health? That's much closer to the truth. **
But surely it's Whitey's fault that KFC and malt liquor are so unhealthy!