| While access to comprehensive healthcare services is essential to quality of life and undeniably the most important factor in the prevention of premature death, the management of disease, and promotion and maintenance good health, African Americans and other marginalized populations continue to lack inequity in quality healthcare access (including behavioral health). Given the unequal distribution of resources in America, Black and Brown communities have been made vulnerable to disease, psychological stressors, and unhealthy behavior, which has created vast gaps in behavioral healthcare access (Yale School of Medicine, 2021). As healthcare access is the ability to obtain culturally specific services towards the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of illness and other life-impacting conditions without restriction, in interactive fashion, this course will examine the most common challenges of disproportionate healthcare access in marginalized communities, while exploring viable strategies for navigating the complex anomalies of our healthcare system. |
