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Inequalities in health and illness
Health inequalities essay abstract
Inequalities in health and illness
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Inequalities in health and illness
Health inequalities essay abstract
Inequalities in health and illness
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Inequalities in health and illness
For decades, a person’s socioeconomic status or SES has affected the health care that people receive due to race and “wealth”. This problem has plagued American society because of these factors leading to many receiving inadequate health care. All of these factors for someone’s SES, has changed a lot in the health care domain that is unfair to many who are not the “ideal” and are a minority. Due to this the perception, experiences with health care waver and are different between the stages of these SES’s. No matter the status of a person they should receive the same amount of care, treatment, and closer.
Health inequalities, task 2: In this essay I will provide sociological analysis of the underlying reasons for the differences in health and provide explanations and reasons of health inequalities. According to the map/graph (I provided), there are variations in health status according to social class, gender and geographical region in the UK. For example, the number of premature death are much higher in Scotland then elsewhere, for both men and women.
There are many healthcare disparities involving parasitic infection. One disparity, for example, is that any one can get parasitic infection, it is so easy to be infected by a parasitic infection. Also, to really prevent one from getting a parasitic infection, they would have to be extremely cautious on the food they are eating and the water they are drinking. It is more common in regions of tropical or subtropical to avoid getting infected. We can also get infected through our pets and the disparity in this is that its hard to keep up with everything to avoid getting infected with parasitic
According to Baldwin (2003) health care disparities are the differences in health and health care between population groups including race, socioeconomic status, age, location, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. Disparities limits the improvements of quality health care which could result in unnecessary health care expenses. Factors that are contributing to disparities within today’s society are lack of access to quality health care and the number of individuals who are uninsured. As the population continue to grow and become more diverse health care disparities will continue to increase.
Within the presentation, there was mention of how lack of access to not only nutritionally rich food, but also food insecurity in general leads to chronic stress and desperation in individuals. These remarks made me think of the different ways of measuring health as listed in the article describing health disparities in U.S. by Dr. Donald A. Barr which described the various ways that health could be measured including physically, socioculturally, and psychologically. Those that are dealing with food insecurity may at times be physically healthy but may suffer greatly in terms of a psychological based definition of health as they are constantly worried about their ability to get enough food in the future. This can also relate back to differences in socioeconomic status as discussed in the presentation and in the recent discussion paper as well. Those of higher socioeconomic status are not worried about getting food or maintaining shelter so they have more time and mental energy that can be spent on maintaining their health, whereas those of lower socioeconomic status are not afforded the luxury of such time as they have the daily struggle of maintaining the basic
Social Determinants of Health Shelly Clavis Rutgers University School of Nursing Social Determinants of Health Defined Health concerns is an issue that most organizations have formed a pact to safely deal with the challenge. The main agenda focuses on the eradication of health inequalities that may exist in most countries. It is best suited that social determinants are accorded the much-needed attention since they affect a number of people. In assessing the factors that affect one’s health, genetic disposition, personal behaviors, ability to obtain healthcare and the overall environment in which an individual resides are to be considered. Social determinants of Health are issues that deals with the conditions that people have found constructed in a society and acts as a parcel in their lives, such as; growth, age and some of the more complex systems that construct a society which include economic policies and their systems that include social norms, development goals and the basic political system that they are indulged under (World Health Organization, 2008).
These elements include social support structures, educational attainment, employment status, poverty, and income. Health outcomes, health behaviors, and access to healthcare services are all significantly influenced by socioeconomic level (WHO, 2003). Similarly, a healthy neighborhood and lifestyle determine health. Health within the Social Insurance Model is influenced by a variety of elements, such as housing quality, transportation, access to healthy food, water quality, usage of tobacco and alcohol, amount of physical activity, dietary practices, and adherence to advised screenings or
A link between poverty, low educational attainment and poorer health outcomes with increased morbidity and mortality is well established (Causes of Health Disparities, n.d.). Also, certain religious practices may not allow one person to obtain the believed cure or care needed to prevent certain illnesses and diseases. A lack of income and low educational attainment decreases one 's chances of having quality access to healthcare. If one is not able to afford health care or is ignorant to what the health care field has to offer, illness and disease may build up over time, increasing chances for a health disparity. Gender and age could also cause one not to want to obtain health care, furthermore decreasing their health.
Health disparity are avertible health status of distinctive group of people like races, skin color, language, socioeconomic resources, gender and age (Edelman, Kudzma, & Mandle, 2014). Health disparities are arbitrary and explicit to historical and present uneven distribution of political, economic, social, and environmental resources. A disparity can also be related to education, where dropping out of school occurs associated with various social and health problems (CDC,2017). Comprehensively, person with inadequate education are more likely to struggle number of health risks such as substance abuse, obesity, and traumatic injuries, compared to individual who receive more education. One of the main findings within health disparities in history
Annotated Bibliography Marmot, M. (2005). Social determinants of health inequalities. The Lancet, 365, 1099 1104. This journal article illustrates that many countries have enormous disparities in health.
To explain the health inequality in class, social determinants of health were introduced
According to Chin (2005), populations at risk are the individuals that are mostly susceptible to disease such as underprivileged, weak, incapacitated, economically disadvantaged, homeless, racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with low knowledge or education, victims of abuse or maltreatment, and individuals with social risk elements such as isolation . While vulnerable population is a group or groups that are more possible to develop health-related problems, have more trouble gaining access to health care to address those health difficulties, and are more likely to experience a poor consequence or shorter life span because of those health conditions. That is, there are provoking factors that place individuals at greater risk for persistent poor health status than other at-risk individuals (Maurer, 2013). Risk and vulnerability are interrelated to each other.
The term social determinants of health, can be defined as a ‘set of conditions in which people are born, grow up, live and work.’ These conditions include housing, education, financial security and the environment along with the healthcare service. (http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/438838/01.12_Health_inequalities_and_the_social_determinants_of_health.pdf) These factors are affected by the amount of money, power and resources that are available at a global, national and local level. Social determinants of health are linked to health inequalities according to the World Health Organisation, health inequalities are ‘the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries.’
Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience chronic ill-health and die earlier than those who are more advantaged. Health inequalities are not only apparent between people of different socio-economic groups – they exist between different genders and different ethnic groups (“Health inequalities,” n.d.). The situation in which people are born, grow, develop, work and age are affected by social, economic, environmental and most importantly political factors.
Social determinants of health depend on social, environmental and economic conditions in societies (EuroHealthNet, n.d.). These factors and conditions, together with the age, sex and hereditary factors of a person, are interlinked and influence the health status of the individual, because a person is born, grows, lives, works and ages in these conditions (Equity Action, 2010). The living and working conditions include agriculture and food production, education, work and environment, unemployment, water and sanitation, health care services and housing (Marmot, Health inequalities in the EU, 2013, p. 40). In addition, it is clear that equal access to good health is hard to achieve, and it can be done so, if disadvantages are assessed, and that necessary measures should be taken (Stegeman, Costongs, & Needle,