Once again good evening my fellow bloggers! I hope that everyone had a good week so far. Today’s topic is about the many disparities that Asian Americans face. I will be informing you guys about their demographics, socioeconomic status and insurance, language barriers and access to health care, and major health disparities that they face.

    So let’s start with the demographics. According to the Asian American health Initiative (AAHI) states “Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing ethnic/racial minority in the U.S., representing 4.2% of the total U.S. population, with an annual growth rate of 5.2%. The U.S. Census Bureau projects the Asian American population to grow to 37.6 million by 2050, estimating that it will comprise 9.3% of the U.S. population. The term Asian American refers to those people with familial roots originating in many in many countries, ethnic groups, and cultures of the Asian continent” (AAHI, 2003).  The reason on why I chose this ethnic group is because it is one of the groups that people are not informed about.

    Furthermore, there is a growing population of Asian American however, what type of socioeconomic status are they in and what type of health insurance do they have.  AAHI informs us that Asian Americans are in a low socioeconomic status which contradicts the Model of Minority Myth which is assuming that all Asians Americans “enjoy a high socioeconomic status, are well educated and are healthy. However, the truth is, more than a million Asian Americans live at or below the federal poverty level” (AAHI, 2003).  Also, two million Asian Americans do not have insurance here in the United States. These are numbers are high because they have trouble finding jobs that offer them insurance and there are times that they are not even eligible for Medicaid! This is the main reason why I chose this topic to bring awareness about this matter and hopefully, one day find ways to change that. Another factor that contributes is that there is a language and cultural barriers preclude them from seeking health care facilities. Since their English can be limited which at times may become difficult to understand causing a lack of communication between the health care providers. Also, they have their set of cultural beliefs that they don’t need to seek medical attention at the moment leading them to make their possible illness worse and can be too late to treat (AAHI, 2003). 

    Lastly, it brings me to health disparities, which is mental health problems. According to AAHi is that “the Asian American Community has a high percentage and For example, Asian women aged 65 years and over have the highest suicide rate in the country compared with any other population in that age group.  Also, Asian American adolescent girls reportedly have the highest rates of depressive symptoms compared to girls of other ethnicities” (AAHI, 2003).  The possible reason that their social stigma and shame can cause them not to seek help. 

Well that's all for today and I hope that I was able to bring awareness!! And until next time my fellow bloggers!!

               

                                                                Reference

Profiles | Demographics | Model Minority Myth | Socioeconomic Status/Insurance StatusCultural Language Barriers/Access to Health Care | Health Disparities. (2003). Retrieved March 04, 2016, from http://www.aahiinfo.org/english/asianAmericans.php

Well good evening to my fellow bloggers! Tonight’s topic is about infant mortality. I will be informing you guys tonight about which ethnicity group has the highest infant mortality rate, what is the causes, and the disparities that the ethnic group faces.

    According to Office of Minority Health (OMH), American Indian (AI) and Alaska Natives (AN) have the highest infant mortality rate by “1.5 times the infant mortality rate as non-Hispanic white. Also, the AI and AN babies are twice as likely as non-Hispanic white babies to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). As well to have more than 70% of infants to die from accidental deaths before the age of one year compares to non-Hispanic white infants (CDC, 2015). I found this rates astonishing and it made me want to do further research on why the infants deaths are so high. This lead me to find out the leading causes of death among  infants. The top four causes of death  consist of congenital malformations, low birth weight, SIDS, and accidents. The more I investigate everything became clearer.  OMH found out more information that contributes to the high percentage of infant mortality. During the first-trimester-only  0.7% of AI and AN receive prenatal care and 15.2 % smoke during the last three months of their pregnancy (CDC,2015).

    Also, the lack of prenatal care causes the high infant mortality rate and other chronic diseases. According to OMH  “American Indians/Alaska Natives frequently contend with issues that prevent them from receiving quality medical care. These issues include cultural barriers, geographic isolation, inadequate sewage disposal, and low income” (CDC,2015).  And learning this information makes me realize the importance of health literacy and we have to understand that individuals have different cultural beliefs. As a person that is planning to obtain a career in health care, we have to be able to find different ways to bring awareness to different ethnic groups.

    Lastly, it brings to the types of health coverage that they receive. OMH states that 22% of AI and AN live on reservations or other trust lands. 60% of AI and AN lives in metropolitan areas” (CDC, 2015). To the 22% of the AI and AN that live in reservations have less access to hospitals, clinics, and health groups. This greatly explains why the infant mortality is high since the pregnant women don’t receive the proper health care for themselves and the baby.  Also, OMH did a research in 2012, “47.5 % of AI and AN had private health insurance coverage. 38.1 percent of AI/ANs relied on Medicaid coverage, and 22.6 percent of AI/ANs had no health insurance coverage” (CDC,2015). 

                In conclusion, I hope that I am able to shine light on the many disparities nonwhites ethnic groups face that can cause a drastic impact on the quality of health care that they will received. And as a society we should try to find ways for every minority group to have equal health care. Well thanks for reading and until next time my fellow bloggers.

Reference

                DC, C. (2015, September 04). Office of Minority Health. Retrieved March 02, 2016, from http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4

DC, C. (2015, September 04). Office of Minority Health. Retrieved March 02, 2016, from http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=3

So what is minority health?? Well according to Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ,2013) "The overall health of the American population has improved over the past decades, but not all Americans have benefited equally from these improvements. Minority populations, in particular, continue to lag behind whites in a number of areas, including quality of care, access to care, timeliness, and outcomes. Other health care problems that disproportionately affect minorities include provider biases, poor provider-patient communication, and health literacy issues" (2013, AHRQ).  And in order to bring health awareness we have to be able to understand and handle the cultural beliefs in order to bring awareness to a certain ethnic group.

    Furthermore, it brings me to the topic of the evening which involves the quality of minority health regarding communication among Hispanics. According to Professor Williams (Williams, 2016), Hispanics are the group that have the lowest health literacy. One of the main factors that contribute to this statistic is that English is their second language. This can bring many difficulties such as misinterpreting health news, not understanding health covered, and so much more.

    Which brings me to my next topic, is that a study done by Emma Wertz and Sora Kim (Wertz, & Kim, 2015) the title of the article is Quality of Minority Health Communication: An Analysis of Hispanic-Targeted Health Websites. Their studied in 2008 showed that around 81% of Hispanics were on the internet. But 56% of Hispanics were searching for health related topics (Wertz, & Kim, 2015). And reading this journal article open my eyes and I am able to put the factors together on why Hispanics have low health literacy. Coming from a Hispanic background this makes so much sense my family was not that aware when it came to health-related topics. Until I decide to pursue a career in the health field to bring awareness and knowledge of the health care system. Any by using other sources such as the internet, radio, or television Hispanics are able to somewhat educated themselves on health matter, also, it is easier to comprehend and cheaper (Wertz &Kim, 2015).

    In addition, the usage of the internet has increased but how much of the information that is on the internet is credible. According to Wertz and Kim ” Of specific concern were the validity of presented health data, quality of online medical advice, and lack of scientific data supporting claims related to commercially available treatments. In addition, health websites often fail to include necessary information such as the source of a document, e-mail addresses, or dates associated with information updates” (Wertz &Kim, 2015). And these factor plays a big factor since the main source Hispanic obtain their information and providing misleading information and information that is not comprehendible can lead to many complications. This can cause people to think that things are not true which can cause them to make a drastic measure for example not getting their children vaccinated. By taking these measures we can ensure the Hispanic community receive the best information regarding their health benefit and medical coverage through their insurances.  

                                                            Reference

Wertz, E. K., & Kim, S. (2015). The quality of Minority Health Communication: An Analysis of Hispanic-Targeted Health Websites.American Communication Journal, 17(2), 27-37.

Internet Citation: Minority Health: Recent Findings. February 2013. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/factsheets/minority/minorfind/index.html

DeRuiter-Willems, L. (2016, February 22). Lecture presented at Health Literacy, Charleston.

Hello, Everyone!!!!

I am Blanca Aragon. I am currently a junior at Eastern Illinois University studying in community health to one day becoming a nurse. I am first generation which mean that I have to build a path for my younger siblings. And by being the first in my family it has made me the person that I am today. I am strong, driven, patient, caring, and optimistic individual. This blog was created to bring awareness or one can say even tactics about approaching different types of Minority groups. In order to bring awareness to a group, you must be able to understand their culture and beliefs.