Behavioral Health Differences

In the “Marmot Review: Fair Society Healthy Lives” written by “Professor Michael Marmot” himself, he proposes the most effective evidence-based strategies for reducing health inequalities in England. Inequality is unjust and unfair and therefore it is a matter of social justice in cases where everyone has an equal,social, political and economical rights and opportunities.He simply stated that to reduce the steepness of the gradient sufficiently “actions must be universal, but with a scale and intensity that is proportionate to the level of disadvantage” Even though resources may be scarce and it is tempting to focus these limited resources on the most needy, we are eliminating some parts of the society and therefore only tackling a small part of the overall problem. Part of his solution was to “implement an evidence-based programme of ill health preventive interventions that are effective across the social gradient such as Increasing and improving the scale and quality of treatment programmes and focusing on public health interventions such as smoking cessation programmes on reducing the social gradient” Michael Marmot also raises the benefits to which reducing health inequalities will help the economy as well as socially. “It is estimated that inequality in illness accounts for productivity losses of £31-33 billion per year, lost taxes and higher welfare payments in the range of £20-32 billion per

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing, and not just the absence of disease” (WHO, 1974). Health inequalities are the differences in health or healthcare opportunities in different societies this may be due to income,

This paper discusses the ideas presented by Richard Wilkinson, in the video How economic inequality harms societies (2011). Three compelling concepts arise from the video which are that there was no longer a correlation between gross national income and health and social problems; it is also possible to attain greater equality as evidenced by what some countries are doing to reduce the income gap; and inequalities vary based on their health impact across the social gradient but nonetheless is present from top to bottom. In order to tackle the health problems and improve the health of individuals within societies, social justice actions geared at the inequalities seen in the healthcare system and other institutions are crucial. This paper also

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to attain his or her full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). Satcher (2010) reports that health inequities are “systematic, avoidable, and unjust” disparities (p. 6). He also states that the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that social conditions are the most important determinant of a person’s health. Social conditions “determine access to health services and influence lifestyle choices” (Satcher, 2010, p. 6). These determinants must be addressed in order to reduce health inequity. Inequity can be

According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 1978), health can be defined not only in terms of absence of disease, injury or infirmity, but also, as a state of mental, physical and social well-being. Over the last decades, many studies have emphasized the role of social circumstances on health status. The tight link between health and a wide range of socioeconomic, environmental and demographics factors have been increasingly recognized and proffer an alternative perspective on how to consider public health, social justice and even restructuring of the health care system (Daniels et. al., 2004). The increasingly acknowledgement that health is also a result of cumulative experience of social conditions and exposure to environmental

I assume that in today’s world, there is a lot of information and scholarly research available that shows factors such as economic status, income, social situations, education, ethnicity, employment, availability of affordable housing and geographical (place where one was born and lives) conditions have a tremendous impact on the health and well-being of individuals, countries and communities (Amaro, 2014). Inequalities in health and well-being are created by social determinants and economic conditions for many in our community (Brannigan &Boss). The people that are affected the most are people with low income and minority groups here in the United States. This creates health disparities and unequal care (Brannigan &Boss). In many developing and under-developed countries, the situation is dire: lack of modern health services, illiteracy, poor economic conditions has created a cultural situation of desperation and unhealthy behaviors. Corruption by African governments is rampant. To improve the health and wellbeing of communities, we need to start thinking of how we can create a culture of health.

For a better understanding of the policies, it is necessary to define the term health inequality. The term health inequality is defined as a differences in health status or the differences among the different populations (WHO, 2015). The purpose of a policy to address health inequality is to reduce the gaps in the differences that arises due to race, gender, and ethnicity (Healthy people, 2015). For example, health policies help to promote healthy behavior and ban cigarette and tobacco advertisements (WHO, 2015). There are policies that do not focus on such practices and thus they do not impact the people (WHO, 2015). Furthermore, creating a policy helps people to meet the goals of reducing health disparity (WHO, 2015). There has been a national level policy named “Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation”, which aims to improve health for the population in England (WHO, 2015). By implementing

The difference in health outcomes and the determinants between parts of a population caused by social, demographic, environmental and geographic characteristics is defined as health disparities (Dore & Eisenhardt,2015). Societal, economic, and political forces impact social determinants. (Dore & Eisenhardt, 2015) have indicated that health inequities are avoidable and preventable when appropriate actions are taken to lower the risk of illness.

There are some challenges, as well, in implementing health promotion programs that use the social ecological framework. One main challenge is that programs are expensive and complex to implement in certain community settings. Also, there needs to be close coordination and collaboration between individuals and groups. In the article by Wagemakers et al., the authors developed a framework that links the domains of social environment and health, with key health predicting mediators, and operational variables of participation and collaboration (6). They based this framework on experience in case studies, audits of community health programs in the Netherlands, and ideas found in the literature. The authors offer four key guidelines on how to apply the framework that can help increase community participation and collaboration. These guidelines are: use the variables as a menu, set specific aims for social change processes, use an action research approach and triangulate data. This framework can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of community health promotion designs and address the challenges faced in implementing new programs.

“Among all the known contributors to health, access to health care plays a minor role. Until the United States definitively addresses inequities in those social and economic domains that are key to health, such as behaviors, education, income, and environment, inequalities in health will persist” (Lyon, et. al, 2014).

There are considerable health inequalities amongst Britain’s social classes. Health is formed by socio-economic, political and environmental factors; these elements shape inequalities and influence the health of various social groups in Britain.

Healthy People 2020 define health equality as “the attainment of the highest level of health for all people.” Comprehension of this ideal brings forth the conclusion that everyone should receive equal amount of attention to prevent inequalities, injustices, and to remove health and health care disparities. According to the National Institute of Health, health disparities are resulted from multiple factors defined by race/ethnicity, sex, education, geographic location, income, and disability status. These disparities can stem from many elements like increase risk for disease, which may originate genetically, by ethnicity, or familial factors, occupational exposure, and if access to health care is available. Health inequality has

We’ve come to an understanding that the traditional approaches to tackling health issues aren’t very effective due to the varying factors that are embedded in social and economic barriers that certain communities and populations may experience because their sex, gender, race, disabilities etc. A prevention strategy that is focused at the macro/societal level, would be through taking a social determinants of health approach to reducing health inequalities. The social determinants of health influence the health of populations and acknowledges the factors that shape health is by the living conditions they experience. These influencing factors include, income and social status; social support networks; education; employment/working conditions;

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 health inequalities than people in higher socio-economic classes. Health inequalities are not only found between people of different

Health has been influenced by many factors such as poor health status, disease risk factors, and limited access to healthcare. All these factors are due to social, economic and environmental disadvantages. According to the World Organization (WHO) (2015), “the social determinants of health are mostly responsible for health inequities, which is the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries”