Health in Black America
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Health/AIDS
AIDS has been an ever growing threat the black community. Once thought of as a gay or drug needle disease, more African Americans are now contracting the HIV virus by heterosexual contact than ever before.  . Most of the press has focused on the "down-low" culture as the blame for this. This refers to Black men who live straight lives with a wife and kids but secretly has sex with other men. Although this may be a contributing factor, it is only a small part of the cause.
Unprotected heterosexual sex is still ramped in our community. This is not only true for young teens but is still a factor with older generations. The low marriage rates means there are more black singles of all ages that have multiple sex partners. Even if it is only 3 partners in as many years this could add up to 15-30+ partners in a life time.

Also because of the surge of Black inmates in the prison system during the 90s, many Black men who were imprisoned have been released in the largest numbers ever over the past 10 years. Many of these men who may have practiced homo-sexuality while in the system returned to heterosexual lifestyles once released.
Estimated AIDS diagnoses by race/ethnicity and year
Year of diagnosis
Race/ethnicity  20002001200220032004All

White, not Hispanic
Black, not Hispanic
Hispanic
Asian/Pacific Islander
American Indian/Alaska Native
11,378
19,510
7,957
350
175
11,052
19,473
7,974
381
169
11,604
19,934
7,907
440
186
11,657
20,685
8,632
478
189
12,013
20,965
8,672
488
193
375,155
379,278
177,164
7,317
3,084
Estimated adult and adolescent females living with AIDS by race/ethnicity and exposure category, all years to the end of 2004
Race/ethnicity  Injection    Heterosexual
drug use    contact  Other   Total*
White, not Hispanic
Black, not Hispanic
Hispanic
Asian/Pacific Islander
American Indian/Alaska Native
Estimated adult and adolescent males living with AIDS by race/ethnicity and exposure category, all years to the end of 2004
Race/ethnicity
Male-to-male        InjectionMale-to-male sex Heterosexual
sexual contact      drug use     and injection drug use      contact     OtherTotal*
White, not Hispanic
Black, not Hispanic
Hispanic
Asian/Pacific Islander
NativeAmerican Indian
95,737
52,120
33,717
2,445
56
13,137
34,797
18,472
314
17
11,366
9,174
4,361
162
17
5,291
21,565
8,204
387
8.
1,854
1,654
619
76
1
127,385
119,310
65,373
3,384
100
* Because totals are calculated independently of the subpopulations, the values in each column may not sum exactly to the figure in the Total column
Health status
  • Percent of Black persons all ages in fair or poor health: 12%
Source: Summary Health Statistics for the U.S. Population: Nat Health Interview Survey, 2005, Appendix III, Table V
  • Percent of persons all ages with a limitation in usual activities due to one or more chronic health conditions: 12%
Source: Summary Health Statistics for the U.S. Pop: Natnl Health Interview Survey, 2005, Appendix III, Table VI

Health risk factors for non-Hispanic black population
  • Percent of Black men 18 years and over who currently smoke: 25.5% (2002-2004)
  • Percent of Black women 18 years and over who currently smoke: 18% (2002-2004)
Source: Health, United States, 2006, Table 65
  • Percent of Black men 20 years and over who are overweight: 66% (2001-2004)
  • Percent of Black women 20 years and over who are overweight: 79% (2001-2004)
Source: Health, United States, 2006, Table 73
  • Percent of Black men 20 years and over with hypertension: 37% (2001-2004)
  • Percent of Black women 20 years and over with hypertension: 41% (2001-2004)
Source: Health, United States, 2006, Table 69

Access to health care
  • Percent of Black persons under 65 years without health insurance coverage: 18%
Source: Summary Health Statistics for the U.S. Pop: National Health Interview Survey, 2005, Appendix III, Table XVI
  • Percent of Black children under 18 years without a usual source of health care: 4.1%
Source: Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2006, Appendix III, Table XIV
  • Percent of Black adults 18 years and over without a usual source of health care: 16%
Source: Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: National Health Interview Survey,2005, Appendix III, Table XIX

All statistics above from CDC.com
African American Health
47.6 46.6 48.7
70.6 67.4 74.1
71.7 68.0 75.6
74.4 70.7 78.1
76.1 72.7 79.4
77.6 74.9 80.1
77.7 75.1 80.3
78.0 75.3 80.5
78.3 75.7 80.8
  Year     Black       Male      FemaleWhite        Male      Female
Life expectancy at birth selected years 1900–2004
Average Age at Death
58.8    53.6    43.9    40.2    32.8    29.4    25.7    27.5    26.6    25.3    23.5    25.9
50.4    41.7    36.4    31.3    27.6    26.2    25.4    24.8    24.9    23.8    23.0    23.3
31.8    35.6    30.5    30.9    20.8    23.5    20.7    18.0    18.3    17.9    16.9    17.1
33.9    32.0    30.3    27.9    23.5    23.4    22.0    22.0    21.0    20.1    19.5    19.1
Black male
White male
Black  female
White female
1965    1974   1979   1985   1990   1995   2000    2001   2002   2003    2004   2005
Current cigarette smoking among adults 18 years of age and over, by sex,
race, and age: United States, selected years 1965–2005
Black only, male
Black only, female
White only, male
White only, female
Mexican male
Mexican female

34.3 37.8 27.9 25.1
35.0 40.3 23.5 24.0
22.6 26.0 17.3 14.9
18.4 24.1 11.2 14.1
23.4 22.1 19.1 14.9
21.0 25.1 16.5 16.8
        Hypertension          Elevated blood pressure
1988–1994        2001–2004      1988–1994       2001–2004

Black only, male
Black only, female
White only, male
White only, female
Mexican male
Mexican female
51.3 58.2 66.8
62.6 68.5 79.5
53.8 61.6 71.1
38.7 47.2 57.1
61.6 69.4 75.8
61.7 69.6 73.2
1976–1980       1988–1994     2001–2004
Overweight and obesity among persons 20 years of age and over
Hypertension and High Blood Pressure among persons 20 years of age and over
1980 All causes           233,135  Deaths

1. . Heart disease 
2. . Cancer
3. . Stroke (Blood clot)
4. . Unintentional injuries
5. . Homicide
6. . Perinatal period conditions
7. . Pneumonia and influenza
8. . Diabetes
9. . Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
10. Kidney disease
2004    All causes        287,315      Deaths

1. . Heart disease
2. . Cancer
3. . Stroke (Blood clot)
4. . Diabetes 
5. . Unintentional injuries
6. . Homicide
7. . Kidney disease
8. . Chronic lower respiratory diseases
9. . HIV disease
10. Septicemia (serious blood infection)

72,956
45,037
20,135
13,480
10,172
6,961
5,648
5,544
4,790
3,416
74,225
62,499
18,118
12,834
12,670
8,135
7,834
7,400
7,271
6,010
The African American death rates are directly related to the state of Black America. America is experiencing a crisis in health care, obesity, cancer, and other chronic and seriously fatal illnesses. This Crisis like most others has a greater affect in the Black community. They have less access to appropriate health care and that includes preventative care for children and adults. So African Americans are not only more susceptible to disease and illness, they are also more likely to die from it. Even when the incident rate is lower for a particular disease such as Leukemia, the Black death rates are higher due to lack of access to appropriate health care.

The most disturbing number is the life expectancy for Black men. Black men are least likely to live past 70 and on average die just before that age. They are least likely to collect retirement social security benefits even though they contribute during their working years. Black males’ state of health is also affected by their environments. This contributes to the high number of death by homicides and the recent surge in death by HIV infections.
190033.0 32.5 33.5
196063.6 61.1 66.3
197064.1 60.0 68.3
198068.1 63.8 72.5
199069.1 64.5 73.6
200071.9 68.3 75.2
200272.3 68.8 75.6
200372.7 69.0 76.1
200473.1 69.5 76.3
African American Life Expectancy
Obesity in Black America
Top 10 Causes of Death for Black Americans 1980 & 2004
According to the CDC a person is overweight if they have a BMI (body mass index) of more than 25. Obesity begins when a person has a BMI of 30 or more. The CDC considers obesity a serious chronic disease. It increases one's risk of developing conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes (type 2), heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease and cancer of the breast, prostate and colon.
7,147
18,184
5,802
102
39
10,313
36,791
11,561
491
58
529
1,474
416
51
3
17,990
56,449
17,780
644
100
Body Mass Index Calculation
This is a simple way to calculate your BMI. It does not take into account your muscle index
BMI  = Weight (lbs) ÷  height (in)2   x 704.5
%     %                   %
African Americans have high incident rates of obesity. As a matter of fact black women have the highest rates of obesity in America. 79.5 percent of Black women are overweight or obese. This number is steadily on the increase despite the effort to bring awareness to healthy living. Unfortunately, Black culture contributes to the increase. Part of it is the Black diet which consists of fried and fatty foods. The other factor is mainstream American culture with its prevalence of fast and prepared foods. Chemicals are added to fruits and vegetables for look, taste, and longer shelf lives. It is said that the average tomato today has 50% of the nutrients of the average tomato in 1950.
The life expectancy has improved greatly for all Americans during the last century. One thing that has remained consistent during that time is the lower life expectancy rate for African Americans compared to Whites. The good news is the decrease in the gap between Black and White life expectancy which has dropped from a 14 year difference in 1900 to only 5 years in 2004.
Although African Americans have the highest incident rates of High Blood Pressure and Hypertension in America, there are other populations in the world such as the Germans who have higher rates. There are several factors that contribute to this. Some are the same as the reasons for obesity but there are others that come into play. Stress is a major contributor to high blood pressure and Blacks have higher rates of stress and distress because of environmental, social, and economics conditions in many Black communities across the country. Stress is a known and major contributor to elevated blood pressure.

Another theory popularized in the late 80s known as the "slavery hypothesis."  This is the theory that during the slave trade in the middle passage, the Africans who survived were helped because of their higher tolerance to salt. In other words those with higher blood pressure had a better chance of surviving the passage than those who didn’t. Therefore they survived at high rates and passed these genes on to their offspring. This would explain the reason West Africans do not share this statistic. But this theory is the most disputed of all others but was recently aired on Oprah as fact. This is when many people heard it for the first time.
Hypertension and High Blood Pressure
Cigarette Smoking
*All statistics used here are from the US Census Bureau 2005 American Community Survey, unless otherwise noted
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