Racism is very common in countries where people from different races are live together. Racism and race has influenced medicine in a way and on the other hand, medicine has facilitated racism. An example of a country where racism is very common is United States of America. There are people from different races in this country. Drugs that are used daily in life’s are discovered though research processes.(Wallace, 87). The effectiveness of these drugs is tested first to find out whether they can be used by human population. In most cases, believe that black Americans are dogs have facilitated abuse of this group of people in United States. This is because they have been used to test the effectiveness of these drugs and this has in sometimes led to death of the people.
In United States, the people from the race that is believed to be weak are subjected to the experiments. In United States of America, the whites believe that the blacks are inferior. They are thought to be animals. The presence of racism in United States has hindered medical research (Dever, 164). The black Americans are aware of racism and they have in most of the time failed to associate with any medical institution. As a result, the black Americans have suffered since less people from their society become medical practitioners. This community does not receive the necessary medical treatment due to racism. In addition, the whites have failed to carry out research since they have found no human beings to test the effectiveness of drugs.
Some races like black Americans prohibit the use of human beings as instruments for research. The black Americans do not permit touching of dead bodies in their traditions. However, medical research may sometimes involve dealing with dead bodies. The beliefs of the blacks have hindered medical research in this race and as a result, many people suffer since there are no medical inventions to cure the diseases common in this race.
Medicine has also to some extent facilitated racism. Medical investigations have shown that African Americans have a stronger immunity than the whites. They are therefore thought to be stronger than the whites (Wallace, 127). This medical research has been used to propagate racism in that it led to slavery in the country whereby the blacks became slaves of the whites.
Race also leads to difference in cardiovascular morbidity when the blacks and whites are evaluated. The older white Americans who suffer from diabetes have greater chances of contracting heart diseases such as stroke as compared to black Americans. Generally, the mortality rate of the white people in America is higher than that of the American blacks. This is due to the fact that the immunity of the blacks is greater than the immunity of the white people (Dever, 96). The whites are therefore susceptible to diseases as compared to the American blacks.
Stereotypes of people from different races influence medical conditions of people. There is a general belief that American whites are usually lazy and hence obese. This discourages the white people from exercising and therefore mostly suffer from diseases. On the other hand, there is a stereotype that black Americans are good at games. Therefore the blacks in America like playing and as a result, they become physically fit. Therefore, the black Americans suffer less from diseases.
Work cited.
Dever, G E. A. Managerial Epidemiology: Practice, Methods, and Concepts. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2006. Print.
Wallace, Daniel J, Bevra Hahn, and Edmund L. Dubois. Dubois' Lupus Erythematosus. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007. Internet resource.
