Is Equality Making Us Sick

Why are higher income and social status associated with better health? If it were just a matter of the poorest and lowest status groups having poor health, the explanation could be things like poor living conditions. But the effect occurs all across the socio-economic spectrum. Considerable research indicates that the degree of control people have over life circumstances,

Health is very important, it give you the opportunity of have a good quality of life. A country with good health has happy citizens. However, some reports show us how Americans suffer poor health. The health of Americans is worse than the health of citizens in other wealthy countries even though the United States spends more on health care than any other country. Poor health is caused by the bad nutrition, sedentary lifestyle, stress, and busy life. At the same time, the USA is full of fast food restaurants. Also, they consume a lot of junk food, for example, they consume soda, fried food, and desserts. As a result, the American lifestyle contributes to being overweight. There are three reasons why Americans have poor health.

The U.S. Health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance.” (WHO, 2000, p. 1) Progression in the United States has not kept up with the advances in other wealthy nations dealing with the population health. Disease and chronic disability report almost 50% of America health problem (JAMA, 2013).

According to Riegelman and Kirkwood (2015) there are many social determinants that influence our health. These may include, but are not limited to; income, educational level, culture, and professional status. All of these things can contribute to our health, because they are the things we are surrounded with: a way of life. Most of these determinants are structurally unequal. This means that a person doesn’t have a choice, but to be part of that determinant. We do not have the choice of being born into a rich or poor family, what culture we are raised in, and so on. These inequalities lead to heath disparities. Health disparities are the differences between groups’ health that are/ can be caused by structural inequalities (Disparities 2017). For example, Henrietta Lacks came from a poor family and her health was negatively affected by the social determinants that come along with that lifestyle. On the other hand, we could look at a rich family during that time and their health could have been positively affected. We will look at how different social determinants caused Henrietta Lacks to experience both structural inequalities and heath disparities.

Communities are sometimes largely unaware that social factors rather than medical ones, such as income, and employment status, shape our health. Our health is also determined by the health and social services we receive, and our ability to attain high education levels, food and safe housing, among other factors.

The determinants of health are economic and social conditions that affect people’s health status. These influence the living and working conditions that impacts people’s everyday living condition. Factors such as the place and the environment we live in, genetics, educational level or work status and income, as well as friends and family are some of the aspects that affects our health condition. On the other hand, the people that have an access to good health care and have financial stability are less susceptible and are often less affected. (NANB, 2009)

The United States of America, the self-proclaimed sole remaining superpower, often touts that it is the greatest nation in the world. Yet, when the data is analyzed, this claim is proven time and time again to be wrong, whether it is math or science, literacy or numbers, household income or workforce. Time and time again, and the numbers continue to slip. Healthcare is no exception. In 2012, the United States ranked thirty-second worldwide in life expectancy (Avendano and Kawachi 2014). Of the thirty-four Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations in 2010, the United States ranked twenty-sixth in infant mortality (MacDorman et al. 2010). In a 1998 study of thirteen developed nations (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States), the United States ranked, on average, twelfth. The rankings for the United States on each of the sixteen health indicators was: thirteenth for low-birth-weight percentages; thirteenth for neonatal mortality and infant mortality overall; eleventh for post neonatal mortality; thirteenth for years of potential life lost (excluding external causes); eleventh for life expectancy at one year for females and twelfth for males; tenth for life expectancy at fifteen years for females and twelfth for males; tenth for life expectancy at forty years for females and ninth for males; seventh for life expectancy at sixty-five years for

There has always been a link between social class and health, even with the welfare state and the improvements made to health in all sections of societies over the years, a difference still remains in this area. This difference is applied to all aspects of health, which include life expectancy, general levels of health and infant mortality. Many people argue that as long as the quality of life is

According to Schroeder “ the United States spends more on health care than any other nation in the world, but ranks poorly on every measure of health status” ( Schroeder,1). Schroeder discussed the two main reasons why the United States ranks so poorly on every measure of the health system. One of the reasons for the low ranking in the American health system is “the pathways to better health do not generally depend on better health care” (Schroeder, 1); the fact that we have access to advance tools and technologies in our health care system does not necessary mean that we are healthier than other countries. Determinants such as behaviors patterns, environmental exposures and social circumstances also greatly influence our health.

In the chapter of the film, “Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?,” titled “Place Matters,” the narrator takes the audience through a variety of examples on how place can truly affect your mental and physical health. It affects the resources and jobs available, the food choices in the area, the education you receive, or even the safety of housing in the neighborhood you live in.

Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making us Sick, clearly explored the relationship between socioeconomic status and health, it was said that college graduates live 2.5 years longer than high school graduates” (California Newsreel, 2008). This documentary illustrated how one’s level of education not only impacts their quality of life, but also impacts the duration of one’s life.

Many are benighted to the fact that health is rooted in a classist, race ingrained, education entrenched hierarchy. The higher you are on the socio-economic pyramid the greater the guarantee of safe housing, sufficient food, and access to quality care. High income and social status is correlated to better health outcomes because regardless of age and sex, low-income citizens are susceptible to lower life expectancy and more illnesses. This is further heightened by one 's race/ethnicity. The degree of control a person has over their way of life is based on stressors that these two factors (income and class) produce. Education goes hand in hand with socioeconomic status as education supposedly facilitates the likelihood of employment and consequently establishes a class paradigm. Outside of that, when people are knowledgeable and are equipped with problem solving skills they are privileged with a sense of autonomy over life circumstances. Education is a gateway for better access to healthcare and information on healthy living. Stressful occupations, underemployment, and unemployment are linked with poor health because a person 's job, or lack thereof, has domineering influences on their physical, mental, and social wellness. Employment provides financial stability, outlets for personal growth, opportunities for social contact etc. thus when that is generally nonexistent, or is taken away from a person, physiological and emotional safety is compromised. Then there is

Rowlingson (2011) agrees with Wilkinson and Pickett that there is indeed a strong correlation between income and health and social problems. In her report she includes the ‘Marmot Review’ (Marmot, 2010) which shows evidence that people living in England in the poorest areas compared to those living in the richest will, on average, die 7 years earlier. This suggests a clear link between class and health. The report further notes other additional factors, such as infant mortality, and mental and physical well being go hand in hand with inequality.

For example a person living in a deprived council estate, with a very low income has been proven to be more at risk of developing health issues compared to someone from a higher social class as there is a strong correlation between poverty and ill health. This has been backed up by (WHO, 1946) that state that ‘poverty creates ill-health because it forces people to live in environments that make them sick.’

“Healthy individuals cannot survive when society is sick.” On the other hand, aspects of social structure influence health and illness. Social factors not only affect life expectancy, but the possibilities the one will experience diseases and in turn, the health care that they will receive.