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As summer ends and children focus on their back-to-school rituals, adults face responsibilities of a different type: Before they can enroll their children, immunizations for childhood diseases must be brought up to date. Widespread vaccinations are a keystone of disease and death prevention from diseases such as polio, whooping cough, smallpox, measles and meningitis. By 1997, the vaccination gap between black and white children had shrunk to 5 percentage points. However, nationwide, only 74 percent of African American children are completely vaccinated by age 2.
Adults need vaccines as well. For example, the elderly black population still lags behind its white peers in pneumonia immunization rates. However, there is much more to disease prevention. Other important prevention strategies include: See your physician regularly, especially if, like many African Americans, you have a chronic disease.
Undergo regular screenings for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and cancers, all of which tend to be diagnosed later in African Americans than in other Americans, contributing to blacks' higher death rates.
See your dentist at least every six months. This is a vital but often overlooked pillar of prevention. One in four African American children hasn't seen a dentist in a year. Regular dental care helps prevent not only tooth and gum disease, but also oral cancer and even heart disease. |
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