Question

Choose a cultural group within your community and examine the health data for your community.

What data are available for the cultural group of interest?

What are the differences in morbidity and mortality rates for whites and members of the community you’re interested in?

What factors influence the health outcomes for the group of interest?

300 word summary

Answer 1

The health disparities in our communities impact the disproportionate loss of life and suffering that certain populations experience. The health disparities also have a major economic impact. The economic stability of the state depends upon the good health of the self-sufficient and productive citizens. The disproportionately unhealthy community will be unable to maintain steady employment, contribute to society and are more likely to rely on others for support.

I will be considering health data of the state of Georgia. There are many health-related variables like mortality, morbidity, maternal child health, infant mortality, population and demographic information, behavioural surveys, and motor vehicle crashes available for health-related information in the state of Georgia.

In the Georgia Department of Public Health’s website, Online Analytical Statistical Information System (OASIS) a tool that allows one to access publicly available health data and statistics for the entire state of Georgia. Different statistics and information were gathered using OASIS. The African American is compared with the White race in the state.

The health status of a community is dependent on a number of factors like social, political, economic, and environmental conditions. The social determinants of health include access to power, money, and resources and living conditions that affect health and well being of society. Disparities or inequalities in healthcare occur when there are differences in social determinants.

Social and Economic indicators like the rate of poverty for greater than 23 percent for African- Americans compared to about 8% for their white counterparts.

African-American males were diagnosed with AIDS at a rate of 90.8 per 100,000 in comparison with the rate of 10.3 in white males in 2005. HIV/AIDS was considered as the cause of death for African Americans at a rate of 18.4 per 100,000 compared to 2.5 for whites.

Cancer-related mortality of African-American males in Georgia is 39 percent they are more likely than white males to die of cancer.

African-American females are 13 percent more likely to die of cancer than white Females.

The death rate from diabetes in African-American women is two times higher than that for white women.

33 percent of deaths were due to homicide among African-American males ages 13-29 compared

To that of 3 percent of white males in the same age group.

Suicide causes 1.3 percent of deaths among African American men when compared to 2.6 percent of white men.

The mortality rate of African-American babies in the first year of life is double the rate of white babies.

Coming to the morbidity statistics, obesity in African-American middle school children is 17% than white children 11%.

African-American teens have a higher rate of 85.3% of teen

pregnancy when compared with white teens 46.9%.

The recommended physical activity level of African-American children is less than their white classmates.