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SAGE Publications, Health Promotion Practice, 4(21), p. 492-495, 2019

DOI: 10.1177/1524839919895507

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Health Disparities and the Heterogeneity of Blacks/African Americans in the United States: Why Should We Care?

Journal article published in 2019 by Ann Oyare Amuta-Jimenez ORCID, Wura Jacobs ORCID, Gabrielle Smith
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Each year, millions of dollars are spent on research and public health interventions targeted toward reducing health disparities primarily among the “Black/African Americans” community, yet the progress made lags far behind the amount of money and effort spent. We hypothesize that part of the problem is that sociocultural factors play a significant role in disease prevention. Most studies and programs aggregate “Black immigrants” (BIs) and “African Americans” (AAs) as “Black/African American.” This categorization assumes that the sociocultural determinants that influence BIs are the same as for AAs. BIs have health and mortality profiles that vary from AAs. This commentary aims to (1) introduce this idea in more depth and provide a brief scope of the problem, (2) provide scientific evidence of noteworthy differences between AAs and BIs in areas of sociodemographics, health behaviors, and health outcomes, (3) discuss implications of considering the Black/AA group as homogeneous and provide recommendations for disaggregation.