Why is an African-American child more at risk for diseases?

Question

I'm white and I have a bi-racial child. Every time I read vaccine leaflets it says they're more at risk than whites. Same with SIDS. Why is this the case?

Thanks

Answer 1

I have always been curious about these sort of statics myself. The medical journals/articles always make black people look like we are physically inferior to our white counterparts and more likely to contract and die from various diseases. I spoke with a doctor friend of mine who is white and he told me that these statistics are the result of socioeconomic conditions that have an influence on health. More African Americans are without health care in the U.S. than whites and are more likely to go without adequate or regular health care and are more at risk of say SIDS than a white child would be. These diseases have very little if anything to do with the race/genetics of the individual. In other words a person is not predisposed to disease simply because of their race. There are ofcourse some conditions that are exclusive to some races.

Answer 2

i'm guessing its because they haven't evolved an immunity to diseases white people have. White people may spread around the germs causing those diseases without actually getting the disease.

If a white person lived in africa, it would probably be the other way round.

I wouldn't have thought it would be anything to do with black people in the US being generally poorer than white people, otherwise the leaflets would just say poor people are more at risk.

Answer 3

Because drug safety is tested on white people and then is just given to other races. Almost no effort is made to make drugs that are also safe for other races, particularly black as there are no really rich black nations. Only recently have drug companies started developing heart medications for African Americans even though heart disease is one of the top killers of African Americans.

In addition, African Americans tend to be poor and uneducated which leads to disease through malnutrition and lack of access to medical care. Lack of education leads to poor parenting choices like putting babies on their bellies to sleep or with toys or heavy blankets, early introduction to solids and other harmful practices like giving teas and water to babies.

By being an educated and aware mother you can negate some but not all of these risks. Some world we live in, eh?