Cultural Diversity in Health and Illness - Essay Example

Demographics of the Hispanic Population  

            Based on statistics from the US Census Bureau the Hispanic population residing in America was found to be nearly 52 million. This translates to roughly 16.7 percent of the total population making Hispanics the largest ethnic minority population (Spector and Spector, 2004). This population is projected to hit the 1 billion mark by 2050. This will be approximately 30 percent by that date. According to the census done in 2010, Mexicans made up 63 percent of the Hispanic population followed by Puerto Ricans that were 9.2 percent and Cubans that made up 3.5 percent of the population and finally Dominicans that were 2.8 percent and the remaining 18.2 percent were individuals from Latino origins (Spector and Spector, 2004). Studies have shown that this population is mainly made up of young people.

Socioeconomics

            Hispanics experience numerous difficulties in the US and this makes it hard for them to maintain their health and well-being. They suffer poverty levels and this means that they cannot maintain a healthy diet or afford the high cost of health care in the US. Furthermore, there are major disparities in their access to health care services and this increases their prevalence of disease since they cannot get preventive care services (Spector and Spector, 2004). Research has shown that Hispanics are among the most educationally marginalized populations in the US. These low levels of education have resulted in high rates of unemployment and high incidences of poverty. As a result, most of the members of this population cannot afford health care services. To make matters worse, 41.7 percent of the Hispanic population is not insured and this prevents their access to health care services (Spector and Spector, 2004).

Health Risk Factors

            The Hispanic population is faced with a number of health risk factors owing to their environment, poverty levels, and poor access to health care. An estimated 21 percent of the yearly death among the Hispanic population is related to heart complications. This population experiences high levels of obesity, hypertension, smoking, and high cholesterol that makes heart complications the most likely cause of death in this population. This population is also a high risk of suffering from various forms of cancer (Spector and Spector, 2004). Injuries resulting from accidents are of the leading factors in the Hispanic population. Hispanics are more likely to suffer from strokes whose prevalence is increased by smoking and high cholesterol. Other risk factors include homicide, respiratory complications, and diabetes.

Environmental Hazards

            Hispanics live in risky environments and this increases their prevalence of various health conditions including respiratory diseases. Latinos live in insecure neighborhoods and this explains the high levels of homicide and accidents in this population (Spector and Spector, 2004). It can also be noted that Latinos cross over to the US border illegally and their journey to the US is risky. Some of them die on their way to the US showing the extent of the pervasiveness of the health risks.