Health Promotion among Diverse Populations
Andrelle Joseph
Grand Canyon University NRS-429V Family-Centered Health Promotion

Health Promotion among Diverse Populations Gee (2012) suggested that Health is the basic need for the realization and the attainment of higher levels of human development index (HDI). For instance, greater adherence to healthy living conditions handles the occurrence of higher living standards in developed countries like Japan and the United States of America (79 Years). Furthermore, a healthy nation has a chance to reap the benefits of active and rejuvenated workforce that facilitate her progress. The government has a role to ensure that her citizens meet basic health requirements through the provision of essential services to the public. This paper will discuss health situation among the African Americans for comparison and contrast to the national averages.
Current Health Status of African Americans Gee (2012) noted that the African Americans have a substandard health status compared to the national average. For instance, this racial group had the highest death rates in 2009 according to the reports of the Center for Disease Control of the United States of America. The deaths occur following severe heart disease and stroke among this race. Moreover, the adults above 65 years in this race had the highest prevalence of hypertension thus surpassing the average records for the CDC. These health risks and diseases make health status of the African Americans poorer than their counterparts from other races in the USA.
How African Americans Define Health Promotion The race defines health promotion as an involvement of programs that are community-based with the view to foster participation in health practices. For instance, there is a need for the modification of behavior among this group of persons. There are behavioral factors that facilitate the exposure of these individuals to health risks. These responses include the little physical activities, low consumption of fruits and vegetables and higher rates of cigarette smoking. These risk factors lead to the escalation of chronic infections like the diabetes type 2 and the heart failure. Therefore, cases of health promotion should involve ways to mitigate these three fundamental effects on the health of this race the USA.
Health Disparities that Exist for the African Americans The health disparity for this racial group encompasses many shortfalls in the health status compared to other ethnic groups. Kington and Smith (2011) noted that there was higher obesity prevalence among these persons in for four successive years (2007 to 2010). Furthermore, the women in this race had obesity prevalence that was twice the national levels according to the records of this period obtained from the CDC. Moreover, the prevalence of this chronic disease was higher among the African American than the total of the Mexican Americans and that of the Whites in the USA. The male adults in this race had a higher prevalence of the chronic disease than their counterparts from other races.
Active Health Promotion for the African Americans Kington and Smith (2011) suggested that an active health promotion for the African Americans includes the involvement of the government efforts to enable the community receive essential health services. These involve offering training activities on the best ways to control the use of risk factors like smoking among the population. Such approach is viable through the use of government appointees in the ministry of health and sanitation. Moreover, there should be the use of CDC to identify health needs of this group and inform the government to offer appropriate assistance to them.
How Education Influence Health Lewis, Sloane, Nascimento, Yancey and Flynn (2011) suggested that the level of education is important to influence the health status of particular individuals. For instance, it allows the communities to create an understanding of the dangers of unhealthy living styles. Therefore, they have the opportunity to take informed actions regarding their wellbeing. For instance, most African Americans lack the adequate education. Thus, they lack sufficient knowledge of the dangers of activities like inadequate exercising. Thus, they contact chronic diseases like the coronary artery due to clogging of blood in their anterior veins in their left septum. However, the Whites who have adequate education have self-control on the amount of cigar that they smoke and adhere to the rules of regular exercise (Lewis et al. 2011). These actions allow them a chance to improve their health.
Cultural Barriers to Health of the African Americans The behaviors of the African American are the primary cause of their ill health situation in the USA. For instance, most of these people depend on smoking uncontrollable quantities of a cigar. The tendency leads to the accumulation of excess narcotic in their blood stream. Thus, the circulation of blood among these smokers receives interruption from the clogging effects of the narcotic contents. These lead to the occurrence of heart failures that result in coronary thrombosis. The advancement of this disease leads to the exposure of the majority of this race to unhealthy living conditions.
Sociopolitical Barriers to Health of the African Americans Lewis et al. (2011) suggested that politics plays a significant role in the delivery of laws that govern the operations of a given sector of government. For instance, most politicians associate Africans in America with an inferiority complex. These characters lead to remarkable discrimination that perpetuate in the deployment of inadequate medical services to the populations. For instance, this group of people lacks essential services like community-based health officers. These professionals allow the community to develop an understanding of their roles to secure their lives from preventable threats like smoking.
How Race and Ethnicity Influences the health of African American Novotny, Warner, Kendrick and Remington (2010) suggested that the belief that African Americans have black complexion propels their majority countrymen to undermine their welfare. Such actions occur in many instances especially in the discharge of health services in the hospitals and wards. For example, most doctors pay less attention to treat or offer medical advice to the black persons. Such undue advantage to the whites deprives the Africans of realizing the goal of universal suffrage of concerning health equality. Thus, they feel deteriorated and advance their lives to poor health status.
How Socioeconomic Status Influence Health of the African American Novotny et al. (2010) noted that most African Americans belong to the middle-class families. Thus, they have little access to regular and expensive medical plans in the USA. These procedures include the use of health insurance and acquiring personal doctor. The later program is costly and affordable to those belonging to the high class. For this reason, they have little ability to finance medical services that allow prudent checks and offer of advance medical advice. However, their majority counterparts have the capacity to sustain this expensive medical plan thus they receive adequate care as opposed to the relatively poor African Americans. In conclusion, many factors contribute to the occurrence of a healthy society, especially among the USA's diverse cultures. For instance, the majority Whites have adequate capital for the acquisition of such expensive services. On the other hand, the African Americans receive remarkable challenges in the health status. These occur due to low-income levels and lack of political will to assist them by fostering many community-based programs in their midst.

Reference
Gee, G. C. (2012). A multilevel analysis of the relationships between institutional and individual's racial discrimination and health status. American Journal of Public Health, 92(4), 615-623.
Kington, R. S., & Smith, J. P. (2011). Socioeconomic status and racial and ethnic differences in functional status associated with chronic diseases. American Journal of Public Health, 87(5), 805-810.
Lewis, L. B., Sloane, D. C., Nascimento, L. M., Yancey, A. K., & Flynn, G. (2011). African Americans' access to healthy food options in South Los Angeles restaurants. American Journal of Public Health. 34(3), 567-574.
Novotny, T. E., Warner, D. E., Kendrick, J. S., & Remington, K. L. (2010). Smoking by blacks and whites: socioeconomic and demographic differences. American journal of public health, 78(9), 1187-1189.