College Grand Canyon University Department

Presented in partial fulfillment of the course…. For the Degree of Nursing

To Professor April By

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDE, 2010), the United States has become increasingly diverse in the last century, and approximately 36 percent of the population belongs to a racial or ethnic minority group. Though health indicators such as life expectancy and infant mortality have improved for most Americans, some minorities experience a disproportionate burden of preventable disease, death, and disability compared with non-minorities. One minority group in particular, the African-Americans, have had a long history in the United States. Some African American families have been in the United States for many generations; others are recent immigrants from places such as Africa, the Caribbean, or the West Indies (CDC, 2014). Yet, whilst the data on quality health care shows that there are few gaps in terms of disparities between Blacks and the Non-minority groups, since health indicators such as life expectancy and infant mortality have improved for most Americans, the African-Americans minority group continue to experience a disproportionate burden of preventable disease, death and disability, in comparison to their non-minority counterparts (CDC, 2013).
In fact, the leading causes of death, according to CDC, (2014), are cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and stroke. Kerri Henderson, One minority nurse writer (Henderson, 2014), states that the goal of Healthy People (2020), to “achieve health equity, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups,” is a very important goal for the African American population in particular. This is especially in light of the fact that two-thirds of all deaths in the United States are caused by five major