Steps to Address the Health Needs of African Americans
Steps to Address the Health Needs of African Americans
1. Heart disease, 23.3% of blacks who died 2. Cancer, 20.8% 3. Accidents, 5.9% 4. Stroke, 5.7% 5. Diabetes, 4.4% Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017 Shiriki K. Kumanyika, a research professor in the Department of Community Health and Prevention at the Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health in Philadelphia, points out that advertising targeting black consumers often reinforces unhealthy food choices. "When you have eating patterns that are now understood to be predisposed to chronic disease, and you're trying to get everybody on board to change those patterns, it's going to be harder to change them in a population where marketers are targeting the products that you're recommending against,” she says. Other causes for health disparities are rooted in history. "As an African American community, we have suspicion and lack of trust with the medical community,” says cardiac surgeon Jennifer Ellis, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and an adviser to the American Heart Association. Cases such as the Tuskegee Experiment, in which almost 400 black men who had syphilis were left untreated as part of a U.S. government study that lasted from 1932 to 1972, have led some to avoid going to the doctor. Blacks don't always get the same quality of care as whites, and blacks are less likely to have insurance coverage, studies show. Behavior, such as a minimal amount of exercise and the fried and rich foods that may be culturally significant but unhealthy, is a factor, Johnson says. In some cases, African Americans may even have a willingness to accept certain health conditions as an inevitable part of aging. "We've been in this toxic system for so long we look at the outcomes as natural,” Johnson says.
African Americans More Likely to Have High Blood Pressure Diabetes CDC Says
Find out how proactive individuals can reverse this trend with diet exercise and communal support
Jamie Grill/Getty Images When film director John Singleton, 51, died in April 2019 of a stroke, his family issued a statement with a word of caution to the black community. "Like many African Americans, Singleton quietly struggled with hypertension. More than 40 percent of African American men and women have high blood pressure,” the statement read, before urging black Americans to learn the symptoms. Indeed, African Americans are more likely to have , and general poor health than a typical person in the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They are more likely to be obese, which is a risk factor for such conditions as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. African Americans also are more likely to die from , and . Though the statistics reveal a community in crisis, everyone can take steps to minimize the risks.A multifaceted problem
Some of the causes for health disparities are systemic, says Deidre Johnson, CEO and executive director of the Center for African American Health. The nonprofit organization works to improve health outcomes in the Denver-area black community. For example, African Americans in low-income neighborhoods may find themselves living in a food desert — an area where access to grocery stores with healthy foods is limited. Then comes the issue of the cost of healthy food. "If you are struggling financially, it's a lot easier to spend a buck on than some fruit,” Johnson says.Top 5 causes of death for African Americans br
Diabetes is a more prevalent cause of death for for non-Hispanic black Americans than whites. For non-Hispanic whites, it ranks seventh.1. Heart disease, 23.3% of blacks who died 2. Cancer, 20.8% 3. Accidents, 5.9% 4. Stroke, 5.7% 5. Diabetes, 4.4% Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017 Shiriki K. Kumanyika, a research professor in the Department of Community Health and Prevention at the Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health in Philadelphia, points out that advertising targeting black consumers often reinforces unhealthy food choices. "When you have eating patterns that are now understood to be predisposed to chronic disease, and you're trying to get everybody on board to change those patterns, it's going to be harder to change them in a population where marketers are targeting the products that you're recommending against,” she says. Other causes for health disparities are rooted in history. "As an African American community, we have suspicion and lack of trust with the medical community,” says cardiac surgeon Jennifer Ellis, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and an adviser to the American Heart Association. Cases such as the Tuskegee Experiment, in which almost 400 black men who had syphilis were left untreated as part of a U.S. government study that lasted from 1932 to 1972, have led some to avoid going to the doctor. Blacks don't always get the same quality of care as whites, and blacks are less likely to have insurance coverage, studies show. Behavior, such as a minimal amount of exercise and the fried and rich foods that may be culturally significant but unhealthy, is a factor, Johnson says. In some cases, African Americans may even have a willingness to accept certain health conditions as an inevitable part of aging. "We've been in this toxic system for so long we look at the outcomes as natural,” Johnson says.