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WHAT
ARE THE BARRIERS THAT PREVENT AFRICAN AMERICANS FROM OBTAINING BETTER
HEALTH?
 | Lack of access
 | Traditionally in the 1940-1950 era, segregation kept African
Americans out of most medical centers, and the type of general
labor jobs most African Americans preformed did not come with
health insurance. This is changing as more African Americans
are getting more skilled jobs, health insurance is becoming more
available. |
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| Fear of the discovery of an illness
| Many of us are afraid to see doctors, or get preventive services
because of the fear of having an illness discovered. The
reality is, the earlier you find an illness, the better are your
chances of a cure. |
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| Medical care a low priority
| Too many of us place routine medical care at the bottom of their
priority list. Far to many of us practice "crisis
medicine". We wait until we are deathly ill to see a
Doctor. Many times it is to late to reverse an illnesses
damage, because it has progressed too far and you find yourself
beyond simple treatments. |
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| Exclusion from large scale medical studies
| Thousands of large scale medical treatment studies are done each
year across the U.S.A. and Europe. Many of these studies
determine how we treat heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other
illnesses. African Americans, and other minorities are
excluded from these studies. This is an important point
because the participants in these studies become educated about
their illness, and new types of medicines to cure or prevent the
illness being studied, They get these benefits years before
the data is released to the public. |
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