Healthy People 2020: A Case Study

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (Kassandra, A., 2015), the issue of health disparities have impacted many people’s lives in the community where the minority groups do not have equal access to the quality health care. These

The United States is a melting pot of cultural diversity. For a country that was founded by individuals fleeing persecution, it has taken us many years to grant African-Americans equal rights, and even longer for those rights to be recognized. Despite all the effort to eliminate inequality in this country, health disparity among this minority group remains a significant issue. Research in this area has pointed to several key reasons for this gap that center on differences in culture, socioeconomics, and lack of health literacy.

I enjoyed reading your DQ1 post this week, and there are a lot of contributing factors that led to disparities within the health care system. There are a lot of federal initiative to help aid in decreasing disparities within the health care system like the National HIV/AIDS strategy. The Healthy People 2020 initiative has been a useful tool to track disparities within the United States (U.S.) healthcare system. They analyze and track a wide variety of factors that can lead to disparities like geographic location, ethnicity, and sexual orientation (chap. 11). To end disparities, there has to be an effective way to monitor progression and educate every individual in the health care system about disparities. But like

African Americans are twice as likely to die of an illness such as cancer and heart disease as well as, less likely to have health access compared to any other race. African Americans are yet subject to racial discrimination and stereotypes in the health care, that leads them without the correct health screenings and treatments. The root of these racial disparities connects with the intersectionality of race, class, gender and education.

While there is no clear definition of what health disparities are, Healthy People 2020 defines them as “differences that occur by gender, race or ethnicity, education or income, disability, geographic location, or sexual orientation” (Adler, 2008). Health disparities are not determined by solely biological differences, but rather more attributed to the environment surrounding a person. The public health industry is so concerned about racial health disparities that stem from the social environment

When it comes to healthcare racial disparities continue to be an ongoing issue. In fact racial disparities have been a topic of discussion since desegregation. The US Department of Health and Human Services, in 1984 published a report that called attention to the healthcare disparities. The report was called Heath, United States 1983(Dougher, 2015). Within the context of the report there lies a passage that describes the major disparities that are within the burden of illness and death that is experienced by African Americans and other minorities, “despite significant progress in the overall health of the nation” (Dougher, 2015). It was evident that there was a serious lack of health care minorities.

Both Healthy Alaskans 2020 and Healthy People 2020 have similar goals: increase the number of people who exercise everyday or weak. The starting point, the first action, is always educating the public or school so that people will understand that exercise is something that will prevent obesity and will greatly improve people’s health, which could also affect the length of a person’s lifespan. Along the starting point, assistance from other organizations and programs are needed in order to carry out the action. Moreover, depending on who the audience is, there will be different ways of educating them. For example, a way to teach students would be to have presenters and more exciting activities that will make students want to participate. Another example is to provide easy access to the public so that more and more people will consider exercising. Small events such as sports competitions will also entice the people. Though the goals are the same, the strategies and plans on how the goal is met

Health disparities can start as early as within the womb. White women are twice as likely to access prenatal care in the first few months of pregnancy than minority women. Hispanic mothers are 2.5 times more likely to not receive any type of prenatal care compared to white mothers. African American women have the highest infant mortality rate in the country. They are twice as likely to have an infant die than white women. African American babies are four times more likely to die from

Health disparities undoubtedly exist among different racial groups with Healthy People 2020 identifying reducing racial gaps and infant mortality as a critical objective (Loggins & Andrade, 2013). Black children are reportedly two times more likely to die during their first year of life than white children (Huffington Post). Furthermore, the overall infant mortality rate is 6 deaths per 1,000 births, but for African American infants the mortality rate is 13.31 deaths per 1,000 births (CDC). There have been many medical advances, such as prescreening to find health issues that contribute to health disparities, but each racial group still do not benefit equally.

Yes, I agree with you that people are living much longer thanks to advances in technology and medicine. Thus, the older adults (I prefer to use the term older than elderly or geriatric), is one group of the population that Healthy People 2020 has assigned a separate topic of concern. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested that any health promotion for the older adult has to take into consideration the psychosocial determinants of health. Given that older adults may not have the physical strength or stamina of the younger population, participation in physical activities should be encouraged (Healthy People 2020). If you don’t mind I would like to suggest that you include some kind of activity in your program

Released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services each decade, Healthy People reflects the idea that setting objectives and providing science-based benchmarks to track and monitor progress can motivate and focus action (Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Healthy People 2020 represents the fourth generation of this initiative, building on a foundation of three decades of work (Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Over the years it has been modified, strengthened, and expanded to cover a wide range of health related concerns with its main focus aimed at prioritizing and emphasizing disease prevention. The goals of Healthy People 2020 are to attain high-quality, longer lives free of preventable disease, disability,

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) (2011), Healthy People has changed during the three decades of its existence. The mission of Healthy People 2020 is to: Determine healthcare priorities; Arrange for objectives and goals to be attainable at all levels; Classify research evaluation and data collection requirements; Increase community awareness and knowledge concerning healthy habits, illness, disability, and opportunities for advancement; in addition, Engage various divisions to strengthen guidelines and advance practices by using understanding and evidence-based practices.

There are three categories that summarize health disparities in the U.S. The first is disparities that have a social or economic cause rather than a biological cause. An example of this would be that the death rates of black American men are 26 percent higher than that of white men. Also, the death rates of black American woman are 19 percent higher than that of white women. An explanation for this is because blacks have a lower socioeconomic status than white. The reason for this is because blacks are more likely than white to never graduate high school, or graduate high school but not go to college (Barr, 43). Therefore, those with low socioeconomic status can’t afford to go to the doctor which results in a health disparity. The second category

Healthy People 2020 is a national public health program that aims to increase population health through achieving a series of goals and objectives. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), set the premise for public health priorities in 1979. Healthy People 2020 has an overarching goal to increase the longevity and quality of live through disease prevention, elimination of health disparities, establishing health equity and creating environments that are conducive to positive health outcomes (Nash, Reifsynder, Fabius & Pracilio, 2011). As the Healthy People 2020 program identifies various topics and objectives, the purpose of this paper will highlight dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease (healthypeople.gov). Furthermore using the trans-theoretical model (TTM) as a foundation, this paper proposes a management plan for those who are affected with the condition to assist them in making better health choices in order to potentially reduce the progression of the disease and possibly maintain a normal lifestyle.

Healthy People 2020 is a science-based organization that creates goals that focus on public health issues and monitors the progress over a 10-year span. The vision behind Healthy People 2020 is to help “all people live long, healthy lives” (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion [ODPHP], 2014). There is a wide selection and variety of public health issues that Healthy People 2020 is currently focusing on. Out of the selection I believe the top three public health priorities in the United States are obesity, environmental quality, and injury and violence.