Celebrating Black History Month: Raising Awareness on Health Disparities Among African-American Children in 2023

Goodside Health proudly celebrates Black History Month. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) established “Resistance” as the theme in 2023.

Goodside Health recognizes this year’s theme by refusing to accept the status quo and pushing for innovative solutions that address health disparities, improve access to care and increase health equity for all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.

Minorities and people of color, specifically African-Americans, have historically been met with systemic challenges when it comes to accessing healthcare services in the United States. While significant improvements have been made in recent times, much work remains. 

Of the more than 1.1 million students eligible to participate in Goodside Health’s SchoolMed program, 13% identify as African-American. Health disparities can’t be addressed if they aren’t acknowledged, and this month we shine a light on some important statistics impacting African-American youth and adolescents: 

• African-American and Native American children are more likely to live in poverty than any other ethnic group.¹
• Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provide health insurance coverage for more than half of Black children in the U.S.²
• Non-Hispanic Black children ages 6-17 are 1.5x more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic White children. Conversely, Black children were less likely to receive guidance on physical activity from their healthcare provider than White children.³
• Non-Hispanic Black children with asthma are at least twice as likely to be hospitalized than non-Hispanic White children.⁴
• African-American children are more likely to have one or multiple food allergies than children of any other racial or ethnic group.⁵
• Medicaid beneficiaries (29.3%) and African-Americans (26.8%) were the among the most likely groups to use telehealth services in 2021.⁶

Goodside Health is committed to serving patients by providing appropriate, quality care that considers the cultural and ethnic backgrounds, lived experiences, and values of every individual. We understand that:

• Culturally Competent care starts by acknowledging that every racial and ethnic group as well as every person is inherently unique.

• The way that someone receives, processes, and reacts in a healthcare setting is both rooted in their culture and their own lived experience.

• ‘What is important to you?’ and ‘How can we be helpful?’ are always appropriate questions for the patient and family.

• Patients and partners trust Goodside Care to care for their families because of our expertise as well as our capacity to adjust recommendations to best meet the patient’s and family’s life circumstances.

Goodside Health is proud to serve a growing number of increasingly diverse communities through our school-based and virtual care services as well as across our Urgent Care for Kids clinics.

Stay tuned to our Good News page as we celebrate important cultural and diversity observances throughout 2023.

SOURCES:

1. Children in poverty by race and ethnicity in the United States. 2016. The Annie E. Casey Foundation.
2. Medicaid and Racial Health Equity. 2022. Kaiser Family Foundation.
3. Obesity and African Americans. 2020. The Office of Minority Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
4. Volerman, Chin, and Press. Pediatrics Perspectives: Solutions for Asthma Disparities. March 01, 2017. American Academy of Pediatrics.
5. Gupta, Warren, Smith, Blumenstock, Jiang, Davis, and Nadeau. The Public Health Impact of Parent-Reported Childhood Food Allergies in the United States. Dec. 2018. Pediatrics.
6. Karimi, Lee, Couture, Gonzales, Grigorescu, Smith, De Lew, and Sommers. National Survey Trends in Telehealth Use in 2021: Disparities in Utilization and Audio vs. Video Services. Feb. 1, 2021. The Office of Health Policy. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.