The United States is heavily populated in urban areas. Urban cities are defined as the region surrounding a city. Most inhabitants of urban areas have nonagricultural jobs. Urban cities are usually occupied by minorities, mostly African-Americans. New Orleans, Chicago, Atlanta and Harlem are urban cities that are estimated to have over 30% African-American inhabitants. These cities have a high rate of poverty and health issues. The United States government does not give much care to these cities in their time of need. As of recently in 2016, casualties in the black community is often caused by disease.
Atlanta, Georgia is one of the well known cities in America. Atlanta is known for its urban entertainment industry as well as its musical heritage. As of recently, Atlanta has received an alarming rate in the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
In 2016, Atlanta became the number one city in the United States in which residents have contracted HIV/AIDS. According to an article on Al Jazeera America, only 73 percent of 500,000 inhabitants of Atlanta who have HIV/AIDS know they are carrying the disease. That means 27 percent of cases are unattended and unaccounted for. The lack of medical aid in the city, causes the death rate to rise. In most cases, infected citizens are unable to receive the support that they need because they are uninsured. Without the proper health care aid from the government, it is difficult for cities to help their own citizens. Lacking the proper financial support keeps the urban communities in a place of suffrage.
The rate of infection continues to increase due to an insufficient amount of health care centers in the city, as well as the lack of medical coverage in patients. It is a major problem in the black community. Yes, majority of black women and men do fear going to the doctor, but it causes a bigger problem when doctors and care centers are not provided for urban areas for those who do go seek help. There are a lack of medical care and medical centers to provide families, with the care that they need. Many people die because they are infected with life threatening diseases and cannot receive medical attention to take care of themselves. There is a lack of health centers for people that are uninsured so that leaves a majority of the population untreated and neglected when being threatened with life altering diseases, such as AIDS/HIV, Syphilis etc. The clinics that are in the black community do not have the supplies nor staff to provide care for all of the medical attention needed. (i.e. condoms to protect citizens from STDs, tests to provide infected citizens with data etc.)
Our men and women are not often educated on proper ways to take care of their health. Diabetes is common in the black community, not only EXTREME cases of health issues (i.e sexual disease) kill off our community. Small things like the gout and other diseases related to not being physically active have to do with the way our community is suffering. We are also humans that should be provided proper healthcare facilities for mental health, sexual health and physical health. More so in areas struggling with poverty. The government is neglecting us.
Black Health MATTERS!