NATIVE AMERICAN HEALTH DISPARITIES
History
-Health disparity defines a more significant burden of ailment, mortality, or even disability experienced by a particular group compared to another.
-Long before the Europeans arrived, roughly 5 to 10 million people occupied the land, which currently makes up the United States.
-They arranged themselves in many communities whereby every community had its language, culture, economy, social institution, and a governance structure. In the current world, these communities are called Native Americans.
-The health issues began after the arrival of the colonizers who used guns and also steel to safeguard the land, thus killing all the Native Americans that tried to resist. The colonizers brought infectious ailments to the land.
-The Native Americans did not have immunity to these new ailments, which included malaria, measles, chickenpox, etc. Numerous Native Americans died due to these new diseases, mostly adults and old people.
-Health disparities have persisted among the Native Americans since the initial contact and have continued to spread across a wide spectrum of ailment categories and also for every age.
Causes
- Historical Trauma
-It is believed that past trauma is associated with the current health disparities of the Native Americans. Their generations that were colonized directly suffered due to the introduction of unfamiliar ailments, weapons, and even rules.
-Younger generations watched as their elders grieved, died, and also lost their land and even power. Offspring of the colonized generations could have assimilated feelings of inferiority and even shame regarding their heritage.
-They also had less access to the old individuals of their tribe who were the only ones capable of transmitting to them the native language as well as culture.
-Also, the dominating culture established laws and even social structures that reflected their worldview and were also advantageous to the offspring of the colonized generations.
-As colonizers took charge of the Native Americans’ land, and even the economy, Native Americans’ access to their native livelihoods decreased gradually.
- b) Social Health’s Determinants
-There is an increasing body of investigation that associates reduced life expectancy as well as unequal disease hardship to social determinants like the attainment of low education, being raised in poverty, and also living neighbourhoods with inadequate resources or dangerous.
-Such conditions are shaped or framed by the distribution or even misdistribution of cash, power, and also resources.
-On a personal level, it means that the place individuals take-up on the communal hierarchy influences their exposure’s level to health-damaging factors, vulnerability to bad health, and also consequences of poor health.
-Due to the historic relocation of the Native Americans from their native lands and eve livelihoods, and the persistent marginalization from prevailing society, they may undergo an accruing disadvantage.
-It could mean that fewer education opportunities result in less living-wage job opportunities, which, in return, lead to continuously decreased family incomes across generations.
-Native Americans occupy a lower socioeconomic position as compared to the white people in the United States.
- c) Access-to-Care Problems
-An individual’s neighbourhood and even social hierarchy position can profoundly affect his or her access to healthcare. The areas that numerous Native Americans reside in have a lower colonoscopy and even mammography’s utilization. They are also far away from healthcare services.
-Native Americans are, therefore forced to drive very long distances or even fly to a different island to access healthcare and various screenings like cancer. The long-distance from healthcare access hinders them from getting timely cancer screening and also treatment.
-Native Americans may also be reluctant to go for treatment due to the historic mistrust in healthcare providers and even researchers that are supported by the government. The distrust was as a result of the government supporting the colonizers by enacting a law like the Indian Removal Act.
-Native people also feel that the healthcare facilities and also the practitioners are not friendly or are discriminatory due to their bad attitudes toward different racial group patients.
Effects
-Native Americans, who are comprised of American Indians, Native Hawaiians, and also Alaska Natives, have for a long time experienced poorer health status compared to other Americans. Decreased life expectancy, and also the unequal ailment burden continue to exist.
– A significant effect is that heart ailments, malignant neoplasm, diabetes, and even accidental injuries have killed so many Native Americans.
-Another consequence is that Native Americans that are currently being born have a very low life expectancy. Their life expectancy is five and a half lower than that of other races in the United States.
-Native Americans continue to perish in huge numbers compared to the rest of the Americans in numerous ailment categories with the inclusion of chronic liver ailment, diabetes, deliberate self-harm or suicide, assault, etc.
-Also, the historical trauma has profoundly affected numerous generations of the Native Americans and has brought about effects like delinquency and even depression, which could negatively affect the future generation.
-Another impact of health disparities is the loss of the elders and the native heritage. The upcoming generations of the Native Americans have fewer elders to teach them concerning their tribes and even cultures.
Potential Solutions or Recommendations
-One of the possible solutions is the increment of access to healthcare. That can be accomplished by extending services to those areas that are underserved. Cultural proficiency of healthcare providers should also be enhanced to heighten healthcare access.
-It could also be essential for the providers to establish empathy or rapport and also establish trust before they ask any direct query regarding health. They should also ask for permission to conduct physical examinations.
-Care providers should also avoid referencing a health concern as a problem since it could imply a power difference between healthcare givers, who are usually members of the dominating society, and patients. That can be viewed as patronizing.
-Also, asking questions instead of assuming things is essential.
-Supporting social tactic or policy is another potential solution. Decreasing health disparities needs creating and even enforcing tactics that assist in reducing disparities in access to healthcare and also socioeconomic status.
-The Affordable Care Act is an excellent example of a community policy whose primary aim is to equalize healthcare access among all citizens in the United States.
-policies and also programs that extend Native Americans access to health professions higher education as well as careers are also essential.
-Funding the on-going investigation concerning the ageing Native Americans health disparities is also a recommendation. Care access and even quality, especially for the older Native Americans, should be improved.
-Another possible solution is to engage the Native Americans in establishing interventions and also in accompanying materials for health education.
-A good number of Native Americans individuals should be trained as navigators and social health-outreach workers.
-That could empower and enable them to assist their fellow community members in learning regarding health and even accessing essential services.
References