A report by the Center for Disease Control released earlier this month revealed that disparities in the Hispanic population are more severe than for other groups experiencing the same health conditions.
The report looked into health disparities by sex, race, income and education. Many outstanding differences were found from group to group, and for Hispanics the disparities were some of the most severe.
While teenage pregnancy rates fell across the board for all groups, Hispanic girls were still three times more likely than whites to get pregnant and just slightly above the rate for blacks. Of the total number of people uninsured in the country, Hispanics make up one-third. They are also more likely to live in some of the areas of the nation with the worse pollution and contamination.
Living in these areas may also explain why Puerto Ricans have the highest asthma rates (18.4 percent) than any other ethnic group. In comparison, non-Hispanics blacks had a 14.6 percent rate and non-Hispanic whites had the lowest with 8.2 percent. Also, even though blacks and whites have the highest blood pressure rates, it was Mexican Americans who had the least success controlling it.
“These problems must be addressed with intervention strategies related to both health and social programs, and more broadly, access to economic, educational, employment, and housing opportunities,” CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, who commissioned the report, said in the foreword.
The news comes as Republican efforts to repeal the healthcare overhaul legislation gain momentum in Congress. Last week, La Plaza reported that Hispanic Lawmakers have criticized this move by the GOP saying it would be detrimental to the health of Latinos.
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