The Relationship Between Race And Health

Health and Race Name: Institutional Affiliation: Course Title: Instructor: Date: Health and Race Policymakers and researcher have yet to understand the relationship between black-white health completely. Currently, the relationship between race and health has been described using various stressors. As a result, many shortcomings have been explored using perspectives from biological and social sciences. Mainly, the allostatic load has been applied to develop further discourses on health and race by demonstrating other stressors that have the potential to result in cumulative physiological toll on the body. Amid the multiple stressors, it is clear that socioeconomic differences and segregation are the leading causes of racial disparity in health. In his 1899 classical work, the “Philadelphia Negro”, W.E.B. Du Bois found out that racial disparities in health observed among blacks in Philadelphia were a reflection of the differences in social constructions between the whites and blacks (Williams & Sternthal, 2010). Du Bois study noted that the environment in which blacks lived in was primarily the cause of poor health, contrary to what was hitherto established that the racial disparities in health were largely due to their innate biological differences from the white populations. In my own opinion, understanding racial disparities in health will have far-reaching implications for the implementation of effective strategies necessary in improving health and dealing with health inequalities in the United States. Thus this paper will explore the relationship between race and health and debunk how social-wellbeing and equity are connected to black-white health disparities. There is much evidence from public health and social sciences that reveals the relationship between race and health. For instance, research from social sciences shows that there is a link between socioeconomic status and health in humans (Green and Darity, 2010). The Whitehall Studies have explained existing health disparities in adulthood root from poor socioeconomic conditions in childhood. Also, unfair treatment and racial discrimination have been found to influencing cardiovascular reactivity in African American. As such, social stressors are classified as chronic stressors that affect the difference in health between whites and blacks. Public health and social sciences have linked various stressors that have been found to have a direct effect on a person’s health. It is essential to acknowledge that there is a connection between psychological stressor and health. This connection, as aforementioned, is thought to exist due to the contemporary psychological stressors that emerge from discrimination and poverty. Although the relationship has been proven, it is also important to note that the research used non-human primate models to provide the intriguing evidence (Green and Darity, 2010). At this point, the connection may be disputed since the proportions used to estimate how humans handle stress compared to non-human primates cannot be assumed to be similar or the same (Betancourt et al., 2003). Amid this glaring shortcoming, researchers have been able to conclude that there are complex observations made across different primates because low ranks in the ...