impact of the American diversification on the efforts of Community Health
Abstract
The strength of America results from the diversification of the population. People are classified in regards to race and ethnicity, based on their physical appearance and subcultural groups. From these classifications, the population is further separated to the majority (white and non-Hispanic) and minorities- Native Americans, African Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans. The release of the Secretary‘s Taskforce report in 1985, portrayed the division of health-related problems, with the most affected individuals being the minorities. The high risks are also evident in the reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013), and the highlighted diseases comprise of HIV/AIDS, diabetes, and cardiovascular complications. The reasons for these health disparities are widely attributed to the level of education and poverty. The write-up will, therefore, explain the impact of the American diversification on the efforts of Community Health. Discuss the importance of the Secretary’s Taskforce report, particularly to the epidemiologists.
The United States of America’s population is characterized by diversification of race and ethnicity. From the census of the U.S., the race is grouped into five categories – African American, Native American, White American, and native and other Pacific. Whereas the ethnicity is divided into Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic. The racial majority and most significant racial minority being White Americans and African Americans, correspondingly. Hispanic form the most substantial ethnic minority.
Although the multiracial and multicultural dynamics of the U.S. improve its strength, it splits the nation in the context of illness and health. It brings challenges to the efforts of Community Health, principally due to that the ethnic and cultural groups hold distinct and numerous perceptions concerning health. The perceptions lead to limitations in the collection of data like biased analysis and irregular changing of social constructs. However, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) attempts to improve the reliability of data obtained.
In 1984, Margaret Heckler, the secretary of HHS at that time, commissioned a task force intending to decipher the meager health conditions among the minorities. The Secretary’s Taskforce report (or The heckler report), provided the first national picture of the U.S health. The article majored on the existing techniques for combating health among the minorities, and therefore, with consultation from external experts, the agency got a better understanding of the factors affecting and ways of improving health in this lot. It, in turn, led to the establishment of the Race and Health initiative, with its focus being health promotion, disease deterrence, and care provision to the minority societies.
Epidemiologists need to be conversant with the report’s contents because they will have a better understanding of the ways to investigate patterns that result in diseases and injuries. Furthermore, they will advance their competency in the delivery of cultural sensitive solutions to health risks and in empowering the self and the community.