Description
Climate change is an environmental problem and this is a complete threat to our public health. One of the public health issues on climate change pages of the American Public Health Association is Asthma, and this is as a result of an inflammatory disorder of the airways. It is associated with airflow obstruction that is usually reversible. It is a disease that affects more than 20 million people in the United States alone and more than 300 million people worldwide. Unless a patient has the peace of mind that comes with regular treatments, a successful medication protocol and a solid support system, he or she tends to experience fear and stress regarding this disease, and more than 250,000 people around the world die every year because of asthma. One of the aspects of asthma that many who have it tend to look at their life expectancy as it relates to the rest of their surrounding population (Morrison, Zhang, Holt, & Callahan, 2010).
Ethnic differences in asthma prevalence, morbidity, and mortality are greatly correlated with poverty, urban air quality, indoor allergens, and lack of patient education and inadequate hospital treatment. These days, the greatest rise in asthma is among African American children: one in six African American children has asthma. African Americans are three times more likely to be hospitalized from asthma. They are three times more likely to die from asthma. Sixteen of African American children have asthma compared to 8.2% of white children. For African Americans, the rate of emergency department visits is three hundred and thirty percent higher and the rate of hospitalizations is two hundred and twenty percent higher compared to whites. Approximately three million Hispanics in the United State have asthma and Puerto Ricans are disproportionately impacted. Current asthma prevalence is eighty percent higher for Puerto Ricans than whites. Puerto Ricans have the highest rate of asthma attacks (Morrison et ai., 2010).
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.