Obesity In African American Children

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Obesity has become a major public health issue over the past few years. Childhood obesity has become considerably high over the past generations among the general population and children from different racial and ethnic communities have been extremely affected. Children who have a body mass index (BMI) between 85th and 95th percentile on age on the BMI chart and those who may have a BMI equal to or above the 95th percentile are considered obese (Coreil, 2009). The highest rate of overweight and obesity occur in African- American children and adolescents. This health issue effects both genders and various age groups. Over the past two decades, the prevalence of obesity have raised from 10.5% to 18.1% among all adolescents ranging ages of 12 …show more content…
Within the African American culture obesity for the adolescents has rose from 13.4% to 24.4%. Obesity is a major health issue because children who are obese have a higher chance at suffering from serious, lifelong illnesses in compare to children who are healthier. African American children who are obese have a higher chance at chronic illnesses such as asthma, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea and social stigmatization (Ogden et al., 2010). Research have reported that 60% of overweight children have at least one risk factor (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2000). The key points which will be discussed are the social determinates which contribute to obesity such as public safety, transportation, environment, mass media & technologies, and lack of education (job opportunity). Also being discussed are the public health issues one may encounter with cultural awareness, how inequality contributes to this specific heath outcome, and the relationship between health inequality and life …show more content…
Most people dream of coming to America because they feel there are plenty of opportunities here for their family. By people constantly trying to come to America it’s causing more people to come in at a lower income level which causes bad health outcomes (Wilkinson & Pickett, 2010). Most people who come to America have to learn language and having a language barrier can factor into ones health. By there being a language barrier most people cannot find work which adds on more stress for families. Also people with a language barrier do not have a understanding of American culture in which they do not understand certain risk factors to illnesses. The U.S is number 37 on the health care ranking (WHO, 2015). The reason why the U.S is so low is because there is a huge inequality gap among the rich and the poor. This U.S is known for always helping other countries when in need but when it comes to helping themselves they lack. This relates to why they are so low on the health care system. The U.S was chosen because it’s time to take a step back and help improve the healthcare here first and then go and help others. Obesity is a huge illness within the U.S studies report that it’s the top leading contributor to other chronic illness such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately cardiovascular disease is the number one leading cause of death within the U.S.
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