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Impact of social inequalities on health
How is income and social status a determinant of health
Links between social inequalities and health
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The lecture, led by Dr. Christian Dimaano, discussed a variety of health disparities and then went into an in depth look at Henrietta Lacks, and the use of her cells in scientific research. He described health disparities as the differences of health problems between races, lifestyles, and mental processes. This was a very interesting topic for me, as a nursing major, I hadn’t really thought about health disparities before, so it was interesting to think about all of the potentially higher health risks that can occur simply because a patients race, or mental state. He also discussed the social determinants of heath and how things like your physical environment, economic stability, social community, and education can all influence your health. Dr. Dimaano also talked about how social determinants of health are health problems that you had no choice in, they are developed by factors such as sex, age, genes, medical care, and individual behaviors such as work and home life.
By social class men aged 25-64 from routine or manual backgrounds are twice as likely to die as those from managerial or professional backgrounds. For all major causes, death rates for men aged 25 to 64 are much higher among those from manual backgrounds than those from non-manual backgrounds (managerial and professional background) and by social class men aged 25-64 from routine or manual backgrounds are twice as likely to die as those from managerial or professional backgrounds. This shows that health inequalities in social class does exists, and that people in the
In chapter 7 we read about social class and health inequalities and how the different types of social class have an impact on one in our society. In this chapter, we discussed and focused on many important topics such as social class, social structure, and socio-economic status. Readers gained a better knowledge on those topics and how it relates to health inequalities. One new fact I learned after reading this chapter is how an individual who has a good education and well-paying job can live longer when compared to one who doesn’t. This chapter once again like many other chapters read before in this course, talked about the inequalities between the rich and the poor.
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.
Inequality is often associated with racial injustice, but actually goes beyond that and has created new ways for social inequality to exist among various circumstances in our country. It affects millions in terms of their way/ quality of life. In the United States and around the world, civilians struggle to receive adequate health care at the expense of their day jobs, hindering them from this as they cannot afford it. The middle has been struggling for decades over the same issues, yet permanent action has yet to transform the country. The issue of inequality has recinfoced itself in health care and income and continues to manifest itself in our society today leading to social problems in which we cannot escape making it an institutional
Epidemiologists have known that poverty is interrelated with higher morbidity and mortality rates. Recent research has suggested a positive
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
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 outcomes among people depend upon the resources that people have to live a quality life. The variations with the money distribution and power derive such circumstances and induce inequalities in health at domestic and global levels where they have become unavoidable at present (Vega & Frenz, 2013). It has been stated that income, housing as well as environment are the major categories undermining all the factors of social determinants as mentioned earlier. Individuals, groups and communities are negatively influenced by these factors in their health status. Governments of all nations have undertaken several measures to tackle the risks arising from these conditions (Chapman, 2010).
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (World Health Organisation (WHO) 1948). Health is greatly influenced by the social determinants of health. The social conditions in which people live strongly effect their likelihoods to be healthy. Factors such as poverty, food insecurity, social exclusion and discrimination, poor housing, unhealthy early childhood conditions and low occupational status are important determinants of most diseases, deaths and health inequalities within countries (WHO 2004). Health is influenced, either positively or negatively, by the social determinants of health.
This essay aims to identify and evaluate the inequalities in health care in different areas of society, namely disability and gender. Firstly, it is important to understand what we mean by health inequalities. It is commonly understood that health inequality refers to unjust differences in the health status, usually preventable, between different groups, populations or individuals. The existence of such inequalities is attributed to the unequal distributions of social, environmental and economic conditions within societies. Such conditions determine the risk of individuals getting ill, their ability to prevent sickness, as well as opportunities to access to the right treatments.
In conclusion, income inequality is a global issue that cause by many factor. Income inequality must to reduce in order to improve economic growth. Economic growth happen when many people spend money. When income inequality is large that means only small part of people are able to consume. It brings little effect to the economic growth as compare to the total spending of whole population.
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.
Health inequalities are a result of unequal exposure to risk factors associated with socio-economic inequalities, such as social, economic and environmental conditions (Thomson, Bambra, McNamara, Huijts, & Todd, 2016). These inequalities in health, between people belonging to different socio-economic groups, were firstly recognized in the Nineteenth century, when public health figures in different European countries dedicated their studies to these issues (Mackenbach, 2006). Villermé (1782-1863), conducted a study in Paris, and showed districts with lower socio-economic statuses had higher mortality rates compared to neighborhoods with a higher socio-economic status, and came to the conclusion that life and death are related to social circumstances
