Asthma in Children

The article that caught me off guard dealing with the life sciences was the article, "For Minority Kids, No Room to Breathe" by Aliyah Baruchin.  I also have asthma so reading this article was very informative for me. The article is about how among Americans with asthma, minority children are in by far the worst situation. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, African-American and Puerto Rican children are six times as likely as white children to die of asthma. The most prevalent evidence for this statistic according to Dr. Andrew Liu of the National Jewish Medical and Research center in Denver, "Children in poor inner-city communities are disproportionately exposed to both indoor and outdoor allergens - cockroaches, mice, mold, dust cigarette smoke, automobile exhaust, soot - that can trigger breathing problems". Also other major factors of this tragic statistic are that chronic lack of access to outpatient health care and the poorer quality of care in inner-city neighborhoods.

I think that this problem definitely needs to be solved. The quality of heath care in this country is already a problem. The United States government needs to figure out the best way to ration health care that provides the greatest number of benefits to most people. I understand that there cannot be equal health care for all because that is unrealistic. But, we as a country cannot sit back while minority children are dying from asthma. A condition that already has been discovered how to control the symptoms.

In conclusion, the lack of access to quality care, patterns of medication use and genetics play a role in the prevalence of asthma in minority children. The horrible thing is that public health programs can help with two of these major issues! The lack of access to quality care of children is unacceptable and the patterns of medication use can easily be changed. I would love to hear what others have to think about this topic and minority health care so write back and let me know! Thanks!

Alyssa