According to Page-Reeves, fear and health are interconnected, and the article discusses the different dimension of fear concerning health. One of the aspects of fear is cost. The authors relate this to fear by the data they collected it indicated that there were income disparities and the community was poor and lacked insurance; thus people fear to go to the doctor once they get sick because of the cost involved. Another dimension explored by the authors is the discrimination, language, and immigration status. The data maps created by the authors indicated that there was a significant number of non-US citizens who were Spanish speaker and did not speak English in the community.

The participants in the study expressed their feelings on how they encounter discrimination on numerous levels. They felt that people of their status who speak a different language, didn’t have proper citizenship documentation were discriminated against in places where they seek medical attention such as hospitals and doctors clinic, and this made them fear to seek medical care when they are sick. The third dimension covered by the authors and was identified by the participants’ accounts is the cultural disconnect. Many of the participants believed in traditional remedies to treat their health problems, and this included diabetes. This made them fear modern medicine and therefore they did not seek medical attention from doctors or professional health care providers but relied on herbs once they had an ailment (Page-Reeves, 2013).

Yes, I agree that structural violence perpetuates health disparities. This is because from the article the authors were able to demonstrate how structural forces were able to prevent the access to appropriate health care and generate fear among the Hispanic immigrants in Albuquerque and this served to undermine further, health and nurturing inequality (Page-Reeves, 2013).

References

Page-Reeves, J., Niforatos, J., Mishra, S., Regino, L., Gingrich, A., & Bulten, J. (2013). Health Disparity and Structural Violence: How Fear Undermines Health Among Immigrants at Risk for Diabetes. Journal Of Health Disparities Research & Practice, 6(2), 30-47.