2022’s Black History Month theme is health and wellness, which is obviously a topic close to our hearts.
COVID-19 brought into even greater relief the fact that Black people in the United States experience disparities in their health care that can lessen the quality and even the length of their lives.
Consider statistics like these:
• Twelve percent of Black young adults have high blood pressure while just 10% of whites do. (Those numbers get even further apart in older age categories.
• Ten percent of middle-aged Blacks have diabetes while 6% of whites do.
• Two percent of middle-aged Blacks have strokes while 1% of whites do.
Black people experience psychological distress at a rate 20% higher than whites. And these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg, the trend carrying over into kidney failure, heart disease, cancer and more.
What accounts for this?
Well, don’t blame genetics. Lower incomes, lower quality health care, less ability to access health care in general, and the stress of living with racism (including racism embedded in the practices and policies of health care institutions) are just a few contributors.
Like the causes, the solutions are also complicated. So, in the spirit of this educational month, here are some resources to learn more about this wide-ranging problem.
Explore the historical roots of health disparities:
Get a handle on the numbers:
Read about the policies that, if enacted, could start to unravel the issue:
https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/patient-support-advocacy/reducing-disparities-health-care
And for ways to empower yourself as a Black person seeking the best care possible, go to the African American Wellness Project, which seeks to empower with trustworthy information: