H420 BLOG #3

Utah Blacks Face Significant Health Disparities

In Utah, Black residents have higher rates of:

1. Smoking



2. Uninsurance



3. Infant mortality

In Utah, the Black population is approximately 400,000 people. This is about 1.5% of Utah's overall population. Blacks smoke and lack health insurance at twice the rate of the entire state population as well as there being nearly 50% of Black women that do not receive adequate medical care. Black infants also have twice the risk of death as infants than do other races in this state.

I was aware of this problem before reading this article. In H420 we have talked about the various disparities that Blacks in the United States face on a day to day basis. The top three disparities among Blacks in Utah were listed above and are often ignored in today's society. There is sufficient evidence that shows that Blacks in Utah do have higher rates of smoking, uninsurance, and infant mortality rates. I believe that the reason for this is because of the way our society views the Black population. Blacks are also often living in poorer communities which in return leads to the three disparities that I have mentioned above.

The article did present us with some compelling evidence that this topic is important to address however, I don't feel like it presented ENOUGH information. The article talked about how Blacks smoke and lack health insurance at twice the rate of the entire state population in Utah. These are compelling numbers! The article also stated that nearly 50% of Black women in Utah do not receive adequate medical care. The question is WHY? This is most likely due to lack of medical coverage or inadequate services. Another piece of evidence that this article talked about was that Black infants have twice the risk of death as infants than do other races in this state. Could this be because of the inadequate care that Black women are receiving? The lack of health insurance?

I definitely believe that this problem is significantly impacting our nations health, especially those in the Black community. By not providing adequate care to those in need we as a country are slowly running ourselves into the ground. We should be able to provide care to all individuals no matter their race or socioeconomic status. By not providing adequate care to Black women we are seeing higher rates of infant mortality. I believe that this is a topic that should be addressed because it is important for people to understand and be aware of the disparities that go on in many of our lives.

The article discussed one strategy for addressing this problem which was focusing on how Utah was going to decrease infant mortality rates. The article talked about how state officials plan on targeting low-income and minority women with a program that promotes wellness before pregnancy. Utah's health department received a $1 million federal grant to fund the program. By taking action and doing this program Utah state hopes to decrease infant mortality rates as well as teach minority and lower income women the importance of wellness and nutrition. In return they are hoping it will reduce the number of infant mortality rates.

After reading this article I was a little disappointed. I felt that this article did not have enough information about the disparities that Blacks face in today's society. I believe that the article could have gone into a little more depth about the topic and that the article could have provided us with more statistics. However, I do think that it is important to acknowledge that this article was written in hopes that someone would read it and become more aware about this issue. That is great and I hope that after reading this blog you will go out and read more about health care disparities among the Black population.