Health Disparities In America

Although the term health disparities seems to represent a widely understood concept, its definition and exact meaning has caused much controversy. This is due to the fact that the most accepted definition of health disparities focuses on the differences that negatively and systematically affect those groups that are less advantaged and that not all differences in health status are considered to be disparities. Historically, in the United States, racial and ethnic disparities have been the primary point of discussion. The objective of this paper is to shed light on to the various types of disparities that affect Americans, specifically the minority populations (Dehlendorf, 2010).
A popular disparity that is constantly found in health care discussions …show more content…
Under MARI (Minority HIV/AIDS Research Initiative), a program that was established in 2003 within the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, minority scientists were offered the opportunity to perform HIV prevention research in communities that were highly affected. Their research began in 2003 and lasted until 2013. The results were that 27 scientists were mentored using cost-efficient strategies to enhance the advancement of HIV prevention mechanisms by finding the funds for research where historically ethnic scientists did not have access to such resources (Sutton, …show more content…
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide, accounting for just over 1 million new cases annually (Dunn, 2010). Unfortunately, breast cancer usually does not show symptoms until after its early stages. Traits known to increase chances of breast cancer are obesity, personal, or any family history of breast cancer. The difficulties of breast cancer mostly affect African American and Caucasian women. U.S. Department of Defense tumor registry records for 6577 women aged 19-97 diagnosed with breast cancer between 1975 and 1994 showed that the 698 African American women had a risk of death from breast cancer 1-41 time higher than 5879 white women in the study (Bonn, 1998) Caucasian women are more likely to develop breast cancer but African American have higher number deaths. African Americans Clinical studies have shown that even in equal access systems or where identical care is given, minorities continue to have worse outcome in or garn specific cancers that are hormonally influenced e.g., breast, prostate, and ovarian cancers (Dunn, 2010) As it is still clear why breast cancer in young African Americans is shown at a later higher stage than white women. But with the help of surgery and treatments to remove all cancer cells as soon as possible can make a difference in the future for the

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