The Disturbing Health Status of the Black Male

"The life expectancy at birth for black males in the U.S. is lower than that
for males in Iran."

Discuss Health Issues

By Sandra L. Gadson, M.D., BlackDoctor.org

In 1990, an article in the ‘New England Journal of Medicine’ reported that
“Black men in Harlem were less likely to reach the age of 65 than men in
Bangladesh.” A recent comparison of current federal health data with the
‘2005 Human Development Index’ published by the United Nations shows that
the poor international health status of black men in the United States
persists in the new millennium. Today, the average American can expect to
live 5 years longer than a Palestinian -- unless that American is a black
male, in which case he can expect to die three years sooner.

The life expectancy at birth for black males in the U.S. (68.8) is lower
than that for males in Iran (69.0), Colombia (69.3), and Sri Lanka (71.5) --
populations identified by the United Nations as having “medium human
development.” In fact, the average life expectancy for black males is much
closer to that of Vietnam, El Salvador, and Iraq than it is to the life
expectancy of white males in the U.S. What accounts for this strikingly poor
international health status for black males in the U.S.? And, most
importantly, what should we do about it?

Black Men and Suicide

Some stereotypes are harmless, but believing that blacks don’t contemplate
suicide isn’t one of them.

Find out why a reflection of racial disparities in health

The peculiar paradox of a “Third World” health status for a group living in
the richest and most medically advanced country in the world is deeply
unsettling. Grasping this phenomenon requires a core understanding of the
enduring racial differences in men’s health in the United States. Black
males have the shortest life span of all racial or ethnic groups in the
nation -- a fact that has remained unchanged for at least the past 100
years. In fact, black men have the highest overall mortality rate across all
geographic regions in the U.S. and across all age groups from birth to age
84, with the widest racial gaps in mortality occurring in the prime adult
years, ages 25-54.

Racial disparities in men’s health exist across virtually all major chronic
diseases. For example, in comparison to their white male counterparts, black
men have a 40 percent higher incidence of type 2 diabetes and they are 20%
more likely to die from heart disease. Black males ages 22-44 are 20 times
more likely to develop kidney failure due to high blood pressure than are
white males in the same age group. Black men also have the highest overall
cancer incidence and mortality in the country and the highest rates of
hypertension in the world.

Racial disparities in men’s health are hardly limited to chronic diseases.
For example, black men have the highest HIV incidence and AIDS mortality
rates, the highest STD incidence, and the highest homicide rates in the U.S.
5 black veterans are more likely to suffer combat-related post-traumatic
stress syndrome.

In addition, black men are severely over represented in the nation’s
prisons, and black male inmates have worse health, including higher rates of
circulatory disease, HIV, and dental health problems than do white inmates.
The black male incarceration rate (3,457 per 100,000) is 8 times higher than
that of whites, with black men comprising roughly half (47%) of the nation’s
2.1 million inmates but only 6% of the general population. Black males and
females are also over represented among other medically at-risk populations,
including foster care residents and the homeless.