Health Disparities & Education | Part 1

In my book, JUSTice for the Health of it, I tackle the topic of health disparities in several areas of our society. Factors like housing, education, employment and food & nutrition play a significant role in the health of human beings, whether we consciously realize it or not.

So, what are health disparities? They are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, healthcare access, treatment outcomes and the average life expectancy experienced by socially disadvantaged populations. Your skin color should have zero impact on the quality of your health, yet it does.

Let’s start with education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the domestic graduation rate for all high school enrollees in 2018 was 85%. Of those graduates, the Latinx graduation rate was 81%, African American 79% and white 89%.

The divide is even wider at the collegiate level. Among public colleges in 2013, the overall graduation rate was 63%, but for African Americans, the rate was 47%, compared to 65% for white attendees.

In the vast majority of the employment sector, the higher level of education you have, the higher pay you receive. So, if you do not have the educational requirements to get a well-paying job, chances are you will not be able to acquire quality health insurance through your job or by purchasing it yourself.

If enrolled in a high-deductible plan, a young adult is far more prone to skip basic preventative care visits, as well as visits to detect early forms of cancer. Consequently, people with low educational attainment levels are far more likely to not seek early cancer treatment, change eating habits to lower cholesterol levels, and/or recognize the danger of not addressing persistently high blood pressure or uncontrolled diabetes. 

Meanwhile, a lower reading ability can make it difficult to understand health education brochures and the instructional inserts accompanying both prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines. If you don’t understand how your body works, it is far more difficult for you to understand why you may need to make a lifestyle change to preserve your health or undergo diagnostic tests such as an MRI or CAT scan.

A more comprehensive overview of this issue and others that affect health outcomes in marginalized communities can be found in my book JUSTice for the Health of it. Purchase the book here.