Racial Disparities

Racial disparities are the unfair, unjust, unequal, or unnecessary care or treatment of a group of people predicated on their race. To accurately define the term racial disparities, it is important to give a brief definition to each word. The term “racial” refers to a genetically distinguished group of people or to a characteristic of race or races. Race is a social construct, meaning, rather than being a biological construct; the definition is constructed and imposed collectively by a society. Race, refers to a social group – often that shares a cultural heritage and ancestry. Hence the historical definition of race is a distinct type or species, sharing manifest characteristics such as structure, temperament, and mental abilities. Race is considered a social classification that can influence health by reason of exposure to social factors including: socioeconomic position, lifestyle habits, and the use of health care.

An insidious social problem in the USA since the founding of the...