Public health and context of the issue

Health disparities around the world exist by culture, race, and socioeconomic status. There has been a lot of research on the causes of cardiovascular disease and many studies and causations have proved that high blood pressure is linked to (CVD) with increased prevalence of exposure (Leigh et al., 2016).  Minority groups suffer high mortality rates from heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and lack of physical activity among other groups. In addition, 30 percent of African Americans died from (CVD) than non-Hispanic groups (“Heart disease and African Americans – The Office of Minority Health,” 2021). African American adults have the highest rates of hypertension along with Mexican American adults with the least level of blood pressure control than whites in the U.S (Leigh et al., 2016). Additionally, there needs to be a better understanding of risk factors associated with (CVD) that can assist public health practitioners to implement prevention programs and services to minority populations.

The focus of problems in Minority communities

In many minority communities, resources are not always available or provided to make individuals aware of the severity of Cardiovascular disease and hypertension. Many challenges within this population are due to the expensive cost of healthcare, poor diets, mental illness, and additional health inequity. My focus is to educate and bring awareness to communities so individuals can understand the severity of (CVD), hypertension, and additional risk factors. Ways to zoom in and help minority communities is by implementing risk assessments and risk-factor control methods that can help focus on strategies to identify problems in advance and eliminate disparities.

Actions to be taken

When trying to eliminate or decrease health disparities, it can be very challenging. Everyone including community advocates, physicians, and patients must be willing to work together to bring awareness to improve outcomes of (CVD), and hypertension. In addition, public health interventions are needed for individuals to understand the importance of improving quality care and address racial and ethnic disparities. Moreover, ethnic minority populations need community-based interventions to encourage healthy lifestyles, preventative care screening, and encourage long-lasting healthy lifestyle practices (Muncan, 2018).

References

Heart disease and African Americans – The Office of Minority Health. (2021, February 11). Not Found. https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl…

Leigh, J. A., Alvarez, M., & Rodriguez, C. J. (2016). Ethnic minorities and coronary heart disease: an update and future directions. Current atherosclerosis reports, 18(2), 9.

Muncan, B. (2018). Cardiovascular disease in racial/ethnic minority populations: illness burden and overview of community-based interventions. Public health reviews, 39(1), 1-11.

American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th Ed.). Washington, DC: Author.