The Hispanic population makes a significant proportion of people living in San Antonio. In 2013, there was an estimated 1.4 million Hispanics in San Antonio. Consequently, Hispanics dominate the business and hence the economy of San Antonio owning over 39.5 percent of firms in the place. Hispanics poverty levels are averagely equivalent to that of African American. This means that they have poor access to health care, education, have increased crime and high mortality.
Regardless of disparities in education level, employment and poverty, Hispanics records a lower age-related mortality rate than non-Hispanics whites and African Americans. The most common cause of death affecting all the three groups of population including Hispanics, non-Hispanic whites and African Americans are cancer, heart disease, and stroke affecting the elderly population and accidents which affect both the elderly and the young. However, diabetes and homicide is among the leading cause of death among Hispanic and African American groups in the United States (National Academies n.d).
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Hispanic Culture In San Antonio".
Consequently, Hispanics has high morbidity rate than non-Hispanic whites groups in the United States. This is highly attributed to the fact that, Hispanics face different disadvantages which negatively influence their health status. For instance, Hispanic minorities usually face discrimination and prejudice with groups such as Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans being affected by poverty. The poor populations of Hispanics mean that they have low education levels, are unemployed and often discriminated are surprisingly not largely affected by morbidity than the most privileged groups of non-Hispanic Whites (Morales et al., 2006).
Generally, the determinants of health among Hispanics can be attributed to aculturalization. Aculturalization is the situation where an immigrant is assimilated into the foreign culture and abandons his or her native culture. Culturally, Hispanics consume healthy foods including high fiber content, carbohydrates, and proteins vitamins. Unfortunately for younger generation Hispanics particularly Mexican-Americans aged between 19-44 years, aculturalization has taken a toll on their health (Mainous et al., 2006). As a result, diabetes affects a significant number of Hispanics. All Hispanic groups with an exception of Cuban Americans have quite high prevalence of diabetes than white Americans of non Hispanic origin. Mexicans and Puerto Ricans have twice the rate of diabetes as compared to non-Hispanic whites at 10 to 12 percent respectively (Kposowa, 2013). This is quite high as compared to about 5 percent for Cuban Americans. In addition, the rate of diabetes among the elderly is as high as 25 percent with both Puerto Ricans and Mexican Americans having higher diabetes rates than non-Hispanic blacks (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2011).
Poverty and lack of education regarding healthy lifestyle are major contributors of high diabetes risks among the Hispanics. Although they fair well in other areas of health, Hispanics may not have informed food choices as they are largely confined in poverty (Morales et al., 2008). Financial challenges lead to poor access to health, education and lead to poverty and offers limited choices in social economic issues.
Conclusively, even though Hispanics are largely discriminated and face prejudice, their overall health is better than that of the privileged group of the non-Hispanic whites. Except for diabetes which has dominantly affected this group, Hispanics have been able to go against all odds to maintain healthy lifestyles. Aculturalization has influenced the health of Hispanics both in a positive and negative way. Positively in that, high smoking rate among Mexican men has reduced significantly among Hispanics in America. In a negative way, more Hispanic women who culturally did not smoke, find themselves smoking. Either way, the social and economic status of the Hispanics in the U.S plays a significant role in determining the health of the Hispanics.
