Introduction and summary
Equal access to healthcare is essential to the sustainability of any nation. In fact, lack thereof compromises the survival rates of any population as it heightens the mortality rates. In the article, of disparities and diversity: Where are we? Gloria Sarto seeks to provide a rationale for the high levels of differences in the medical sector. She compares the minority population’s accessibility to healthcare facilities as opposed to the largely white community in the United States. Through this comparison, she establishes a credible argument on the need to eliminate health disparities among people around the globe. For instance, she mentions that there are higher rates of disabling and chronic illnesses among the minority communities as opposed to the white Americans (Sarto, 2005). These discrepancies heighten the number of deaths among the minority communities due to factors such as cultural competency and socio-economic class. The article proposes multiple approaches to enhance uniform accessibility to healthcare facilities. The author mentions that transforming the healthcare system into a more culturally sensitive scheme would strengthen the performance of the medical sector. Additionally, the article argues that increasing the level of diversity in the healthcare workforce would reduce the levels of disparities in the health segment. For a fact, health disparities among women are detrimental as they lead to high mortality.
Explain how this article has contributed to your understanding of health disparities experienced by women
Reading this article has greatly enhanced my knowledge of the disparities among women. Before reading the article, I assumed that women from different ethnicities had equal access to healthcare resources. However, this article changed my perspective on this issue. I have understood that race is a great contributing factor to the health disparities among women in the United States. Specifically, women from the minority races in America are more exposed to the dangers of succumbing to terminal illnesses as opposed to the white Americans (Sarto, 2005). The article explains that differences in accessibility heighten these discrepancies. For instance, I learned from the article that low income or poor social background compromises the diagnosis and treatment of one’s illness. This situation explains the fact that the white and African American women in the United States have a nearly same breast cancer diagnosis, but the black women have higher death rates. Through these illustrations, the impact of the article on my understanding of the health disparities experienced by women has been improved.
Discuss why it is important to identify disparities between and within different racial and ethnic groups of women
Addressing the health disparity issue in the US is essential to the maintenance of good medical care. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2005) argues that the disparities in health care limit the overall quality of medical intervention issued by health facilities. When this happens, the number of casualties is heightened, and this results in a loss to the nation and the families. Additionally, the disproportions in the health sector intensify the overall medical costs of operation. For instance, the Barr (2014) reports that nearly 30% of the direct medical expenditure for the Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Blacks were an excess due to the prevalent health inequalities. The economy is negatively affected due to the unnecessary costs resulting from these differences and the casualties among the citizens. Addressing this issue will foster the commendable development of the US economy. This situation is largely attributed to the fact that the overall expenditures on the acquisition of medical equipment and dealing with terminal illnesses among women would be more even. Moreover, cultural competency issues that are undermined with the growth of health disparities will be eliminated due to the equality created through the neutralization of this problem. Finally, equal treatment of women in the medical sector will enhance the level of diversity in the United States due to good health.
Explain why African-American women have a higher mortality rate from breast cancer although their Caucasian female counterparts have a higher incidence rate
As mentioned earlier, African-American women have a higher death rate from breast cancer as opposed to the Caucasians. It is worth noting that the population distribution of women with cancer is greater for the white Americans. Nonetheless, the mortality differences are created by factors such as economic status. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2005), low income among the African American community has resulted in late cancer screening. As such, diagnosis once cancer condition at a developed stage heightens the chances of succumbing to the complication. Not having a sound financial foundation limits the black women’s accessibility to cancer treatment. For instance, the lack of constant medical checkups among the members of this race heightens their chances of being diagnosed with cancer at the later stages. This situation limits their chances of survival. Most African American women lack usual health care providers (). As a result, there are minor instances of mammography screening among African American women in the United States as opposed to the Caucasians. Lacking information on the importance of regular cancer screening compromises the health status of the African American women. This situation leads to lesser awareness of the dangers of late cancer screening or lack thereof. Finally, African-American women have a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. This aggressive subtype of the complication is linked to poor survival among the black women.
Identify the strategies that are in place to decrease the health disparities of all women
The United States government has continually made reforms to minimize the levels of health disparities within the nation. These efforts are mainly aimed at eliminating unequal treatment of women based on ethnicity and race. For instance, multiple interventions have been made to make the health care system more culturally sensitive than it currently is. According to Barr (2014), this approach makes it easier for the medical personnel at health facilities to address patients in an appealing way. The long term benefit of this type of intervention is the elimination of biased treatment towards a particular race in the health facilities. Moreover, multiple campaigns have been held to advocate the elimination of unequal treatment in the medical sector. Through the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the medical personnel is compelled to offer uncompromised services to people of all ages and different ethnicities. Finally, increasing the level of diversity in the healthcare workforce and ensuring that the medical personnel is culturally competent has been a major strategy to eliminate health disparities. Through these interventions, the performance of the health sector in the United States will be improved.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Gloria Sarto presents a compelling argument about the importance of dealing with health disparities. The differences in accessibility to healthcare devices has compromised the delivery of important medical services to the minority communities in the United States. As such, it is rational to implement influential reforms to deal with health disparity issues since lack thereof negatively affects the US economy. Without a doubt, health disparities among women in the United States are detrimental as they lead to high mortality rates.
References
Barr, D. A. (2014). Health disparities in the United States: Social class, race, ethnicity, and health. JHU Press.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2005). Health disparities experienced by black or African Americans--United States. MMWR: Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 54(1), 1-3.
Sarto, G. (2005). Of disparities and diversity: Where are we?. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 192(4), 1188-1195.
