Health, health status and health care are common topics of debate and study in this country today. How to deliver health services to a multi-ethnic community has not been explored as much, yet it is a growing problem. "Minority gerontology," a growing sub-field in gerontology, attempts to examine issues pertinent to older persons in ethnically, racially and linguistically diverse populations. As such, this sub-field has grown considerably in this country and abroad. The three works presented in this article are examples of in-depth investigations on issues of health, health status and health care, as well as the delivery of health services. Aging and Health: Perspectives on Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Class, an edited work, provides an excellent basis from which critical study of the roles of age, gender, class, race/ethnicity and health, including health status and health care, evolve. Black Aged: Understanding Diversity and Service Needs, another edited work, provides an in-depth case study of how one ethnic group has fared in the social services arena and provides an understanding of how a targeted service delivery system can miss minorities if that system does not understand the norms of the culture. Mid-Life and Older Women in Latin America and the Caribbean is a series of articles that provides regional perspectives on the health and psychosocial status of women and provides a review of formal and informal social systems, including the social status of women in specific countries.
This essay is divided into two parts. Part I reviews the three noted works and concentrates primarily on the individual works. Part II is a discussion of the works and the broader arenas in which these works are situated.