XAVIER GLASGOW

References

Brown, J. S. (2021). Addressing the Issue: Health Disparities and Social Determinants of Health

Among Blacks/African Americans in Comparison to Non-Minorities with Chronic

Kidney Disease. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 48(5), 489–492.

https://doi.org/10.37526/1526-744X.2021.48.5.489

Naqvi, J. B., Helgeson, V. S., Gary-Webb, T. L., Korytkowski, M. T., & Seltman, H. J. (2020).

Sex, race, and the role of relationships in diabetes health: intersectionality matters.

Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 43(1), 69–79. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-019-

00057-w

Robinson, J. R. (2022). Kidney Disease Knowledge in African American Males. MEDSURG

Nursing, 31(1), 49–48.

Social inequities that have existed since the times of slavery have played a huge role in
black health today. This has set the community back for generations, causing unhealthy habits
that are keeping us unhealthy. For example, there is a fast-food restaurant or corner store on
every in black low-income communities and people wonder why black adults are twice as likely
to become obese and/or diabetic. These major inconveniences can be called barrier methods and
ore more than likely the cause of why African Americans develop diabetes more quickly and
earlier than any other minority in America. Overall, it is obvious that social and health inequities
have caused African American communities to succumb to unhealthy habits and bad health.
Health inequities can be described as “unjust, avoidable, or unnecessary inequities that
can be decreased through policy or action.” as defined by Jami S Brown in the Nephrology
nursing journal. The most direct impact of this on health among Blacks/African Americans is the
constant low level of socioeconomic status. As described by Jami S Brown, this is due to the
“institutionalization of policies and practices that perpetuate residential segregation, low-quality
Public-School systems, and a greater probability of violent death because they live in these low-
income bad communities.” To put it in better terms, lack of opportunities for better living has
cause most African Americans to succumb to unhealthy habits and cause them to be more likely
to die from health diseases than any or minority in America.
These social inequities also have caused many African American Men and women to not
be educated about their health at all. The cause of this is people not even knowing there's better
health options out there or knowing how to become healthy in the first place. Auther Robinson,
J. R. did a study this past year in 2022 and cited in the article, “Kidney Disease Knowledge in
African American Males” saying that that “Educational needs with the highest priority for the
participants were medications, treatments and complications, and quality of life, education needs
are high in patients with chronic diseases.” So, it is evident that lack of knowledge about Black
health and how to avoid various kidney and heart problems are definitely social inequities that
have held the African Community back from gaining better health.
Various research has been done as well as to scale how the African American community
has suffered from these inequities as well. For example, studies found in the “Nephrology
Nursing Journal, 48(5), 489–492” state that “Blacks/African Americans are three times more
likely to require kidney replacement therapy (KRT) than Whites/Caucasians; the incidence of
ESKD in Blacks/African Americans is 849 cases per million com- pared to 311 cases per million
in Whites/Caucasians (United States Renal Data System [USRDS], 2020).” Although the blame
is not on the Community but the factors that have been set up against the African American
community to keep us unhealthy and dying out quicker. As cited another quote from the
Nephrology Nursing Journal also states that, “Other factors, such as a lack of access to high-
quality health care, health beliefs and health behaviors, and social determinants of health,
contribute to a greater incidence of CKD progression in Blacks/African Americans com- pared to
Whites/Caucasians (Laster et al., 2018).”
So how can the community combat these inequities among us to stop them from being
passed down even more? My answer is that we need to start at the heart of the problem in these
low-income neighborhoods. The more we educate our low-income communities and the more we
expose healthier options to them the more change would happen. The less accountability we take
for this and watch our communities crumble the more obvious it becomes that social and health
inequities are causing Black/African American communities to succumb to unhealthy habits and
bad health.
Black Elders have been more susceptible to these diseases than other minorities.
- poverty rates for all groups were down, but remained highest among
African Americans (18.7%, down 2.0 percentage points), followed by
Hispanics (15.7%, down 1.9 percentage points), Asians (7.3%, down 2.8
percentage points), and whites (7.3%, down 0.8 percentage points).

- This Poverty difference is a leading factor for black health disparities

In review on the article “Addressing the Issue: Health Disparities and Social Determinants of
Health Among Blacks/African Americans in Comparison to Non-Minorities with Chronic
Kidney Disease. Nephrology Nursing Journal,” I found that these social inequities also have
caused many African American Men and women to not be educated about their health at all. This
journal gave me insight on the heart of the problem and how social inequities have affected the
African American Community.

In review of the article “Kidney Disease Knowledge in African American Males” by Robinson,
J. R. I found out that “Educational needs with the highest priority for the participants were
medications, treatments and complications, and quality of life, education needs are high in
patients with chronic diseases.” Basically, proving the point that another major problem with
black health is a lack of education.
In review of the article “Sex, race, and the role of relationships in diabetes health:
intersectionality matters” by Naqvi, J. B. I found that” Black women with diabetes experience
more health disadvantages than other groups” this was my last piece of information that led me
to find out what the problem is black health.