By Mountain-Pacific Quality Health
April 12, 2022
The term “health disparity” is used more and more these days, but what does it mean?
When a population’s race or ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, income or even where they live contributes to higher rates of a disease, health condition or their inability to access needed health care services, that group of people is experiencing a health disparity.
Talking about health disparities goes hand-in-hand with talking about health equity, another term used a lot these days. Health equity is pretty much the opposite of health disparity. It’s when everyone has a fair chance at being as healthy as possible—and it’s the focus of National Minority Health Month.
Why is this important?
Good health and quality health care are central to our wellbeing and happiness. Health equity, however, is not as common as it should be. For example, COVID-19 has disproportionally affected racial and ethnic minority groups and people who live in rural communities. These populations have had worse COVID symptoms, more hospitalizations and more deaths compared to other groups. Why? The biggest factors are low income and not being able to afford treatment, discrimination/racism and not having access to health care services.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers a list of other factors that can also contribute to health disparities, including:
- Neighborhood and Environment: It is hard for some people to find affordable and decent housing, so they are forced to live in crowded and polluted areas. Not only does this make for an unhealthy environment, but it also increases the spread of diseases, including COVID-19.
- Occupation: People from racial and ethnic minority groups are more likely to work where they are exposed to other people’s germs, such as grocery stores, public transportation and factories.
- Education: Some people from different minority groups have lower literacy levels, do not complete high school or face barriers to getting into college or receiving higher education.
- Transportation: For a variety of reasons, including cost, place of residence people do not have access to a vehicle or public transportation to get to health care facilities, clinics or organizations.
What can we do?
This year’s theme for National Minority Health Month is Give Your Community a Boost! It focuses on the continued importance of people getting vaccinated against COVID-19 to help prevent severe illness and hospitalizations. This includes getting booster shots. You can find a COVID-19 vaccine near you at Vaccines.gov.
You can also make sure you are sharing trusted and accurate information when it comes to health and health care. Misinformation can contribute to health disparities. When you know the facts, you can have conversations that support good health and quality health care.
Finally, you can learn more about health disparities and barriers to health equity. Understanding what causes disparities can help us recognize when we see injustices and speak up to be an advocate for change.
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