Healthcare inequality

In this essay, I will be covering the inequality which surrounds Black Africans/Afro-Caribbean health
care system. When studying the healthcare system, we first must look at some variables such as age e,
gender, ethnicity; religion to see if there is a relationship among these groups when studying a cause-
and-effect relationship in healthcare. Moreover, we will be looking at ethnicity and how systemic
racism and stereotypes may cause harm to different ethnocentric groups in medical health care access.

(Goodman,2020) raised an extraordinary question surrounding race as he imposed a question (Is Race
real, but it is not genetic.) Goodman told his friend's ghastly anecdote where she had a diverse
background, she was lactose intolerant and feared she was not getting enough calcium due to her low
dairy intake and she fairly requested for a bone density test; however, her doctor took it upon himself
to use her western African background against her by stating “blacks do not get osteoporosis,” this
pivotal statement signifies that even a doctor who has studied for many years and whom I'm certain
has to take a Hippocratic oath that he would not refuse to provide adequate health care for those who
need it regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, or religion. Furthermore, this incident highlights the
fact that biased expectations/ stereotypes of doctors could influence the patient’s health and cause
their health to deteriorate and the doctor may live to rue this impetuous decision because when you
sign up for these particular carriers you must work with a conscience because doctors could be
causing irrepealable harm to words their patients. Moreover (Goodman,2020) highlighted that in some
studies, African American women may have higher bone density than other women, which may
protect them from osteoporosis. However, "being black" that is, having an outward appearance that is
socially defined as "black" does not protect against osteoporosis or bone fractures. According to the
same study, African American women are more likely to die as a result of a hip fracture. The link
between osteoporosis risk and certain racial populations could be due to lifestyle factors such as
nutrition and activity levels, both of which affect bone density. Additionally, (Goodman,2020) clearly
expressed the difference between race and genetically at risk. Goodman goes on to say how when we
are at different areas in the world we may genetically adapt/ evolve to the climate, e.g because South
Sudan producing are notoriously known for having really tell people this is because their bodies have
evolved over time to adapt to the climate by having longer bodies which will result in a higher surface
area to volume ratio their bodies can maintain a constant temperature. This links to a 2016 study that
found wide variations in risks of osteoporosis risk among women living in Africa. In this study they
found out that their genetic risks are unrelated to their socially defined race. When medical
professionals or researchers look for a genetic factor associated to "race," they fall into a trap: they
assume that geographic ancestry, which does matter in genetics, can be conflated with race, which
does not. True, different human populations living in different places may have statistically different
genetic traits.

Covid-19 has affected us all in some way

Prior to Covid-19, Over 43 million people in the United States, including 9 million children, do not
have health insurance; the majority of these people are immigrants and people of colour. Several
factors explain the disproportionate rate of uninsured individuals in these racial and ethnic
communities. Anti-immigrant laws leave thousands of people without access to health insurance, and
a lack of interpreters and translated documents creates a language barrier for those with limited
English proficiency. People of colour also suffer from living in a discriminatory. While in the
pandemic, (Croxford,2020) highlighted that various black, Asian and minority ethnic groups were
experiencing higher per capita deaths. Additionally, (Zakrzewski,2020) highlighted that Some news
reports have suggested that race may have a biological impact on COVID-19 susceptibility.
Moreover, (Zakrzweski,2020) examined a tweet that pondered whether it's a race issue and indeed
genetics may play a part in the susceptibility of contracting and dying from Covid-19. This echoes
how far the Uk must go in order to achieve equity in healthcare. Furthermore, the idea of race is a
socially constructed view on where people are put together based on the tone of their skin. In this
modern age, there has been a vast genetic diversity within these groups making it harder to classify
people among different ethnic groups. While it has been proven that, people react to diseases and
medications in different ways, thanks in part to their genetics. Attempts to find correlations between
specific genes and specific medical outcomes are very legitimate. Zakrzweski exclaimed that “using
“race” as a proxy for those genetic differences is truly heinous.” While in the pandemic the idea of
racial genes was constantly brought about, on why African-Americans were hit harder by Covid-19,
and several myths debunks surrounding resistance towards covid-19.

There is a greater challenge between the biased evaluation of a medical decision by old-fashioned
stereotypes. This is especially pertinent to policies during the coronavirus epidemic, as well as racial
inequalities highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement's support. A literature study was
conducted in order to define bias, as well as to determine the influence of bias on clinical practice,
research, and clinical decision-making. Bias training could help people move from being unaware of
bias to be able to recognize bias in others and ourselves. There are no effective debiasing solutions,
though. Implicit bias awareness must not obscure larger socioeconomic, political, and institutional
hurdles and not dismiss the site of prejudice. The lack of urgency during the pandemic may have
caused ethnic minorities to suffer the burden of less attention when it came to their contraction of the
coronavirus. If we train the workforce to not use stereotypes when dealing with a patient maybe their
would not be such an outstanding statistic when it came to which groups suffered from Covid. The
fact that there was a statistic like that proves that the: Uk is far from equal when accessing equal
healthcare.

In conclusion,
I have explored ways in which the pandemic has exposed the ineptitude of the Uk NHS training force
by allowing stigmas and stereotypes to cloud their professional judgment to provide adequate
healthcare to those who would seek them. Moreover, the diversity of ethnic groups proved to be
harder to classify people and put them into their ‘suitable’ stereotypes. The pandemic has clearly
exposed the healthcare system it has plagued the dispositionally between different ethinc groups.