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Causes Of Health Disparities

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The Department of Health and Human Services (2000), defines health disparities as unequal burdens in disease morbidity and mortality rates experienced by ethnic/racial groups as compared to the dominant group (USDHHS, 2000). The organization asserts that the causes of health disparities are multifactorial which includes poor education, poverty, inability to access health care, limited health coverage ,health behaviors of the minority group, and other environmental factors (USDHHS, 2000). Most of these factors are related to access to health care. According to Cohen (2007), the elimination of health disparities requires attention to the physical, mental, social as well as political context in which health occurs or is threatened

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