Outline the Factors Which Contribute to Low Health Expectancy in Developed Countries. Identify and Assess Possible Solutions to Reduce This Problem.

Tobacco has and still is the most important public health issue faced in Australia and internationally. (Jochelson, 2006). Many countries such as North America, England, Australia, Canada and Ireland have introduced policies regarding smoking in public areas and restriction of smoking in indoor areas. (Thomson, Wilson & Edwards, 2009). The government, community leaders and policy makers work towards introducing policies that will stop consumers from smoking in public areas. (Pizacani, maher, Rohde, Drach & Stark, 2012). Government intervention should extend public smoking bans so that second hand smokers can be safe, a better environment and less death incidents relating to smoking.

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”

M2 – Discuss the factors likely to influence current and future patterns of health in the UK

M2: Discuss the factors likely to influence current and future patterns of health in the UK.

Another influence on life expectancy in the United States is preventative health measures. Typically education, income level, geographic location (in a city versus in the country or closer to medical assistance versus less access to medical assistance) and race are major factors on life expectancy. People who live in poverty have poor health, typically from malnutrition, stress and possible exposure to elements such as physical abuse, alcoholism, inadequate or nonexistent housing and drug addictions. Weight is an important factor in affecting health. Being underweight is unhealthy but so is being overweight. Unfortunately, 54.7% of all American adults are overweight and 19.5% are obese. Poverty also plays a factor, as 28.7% of women in poverty are considered to be overweight and 21.7% of men compared to 13.7% of women and 17.7% of men in higher income groups. Interestingly, women are 49.5% more likely than men to be a healthy weight. Only 36.3% of men are estimated to be at a healthy weight. (Tischler 2007). This is a factor in heart disease in men and a possible influence in their higher risk factor at a younger age. Americans with higher education level and more income also tend to have better access to

Released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services each decade, Healthy People reflects the idea that setting objectives and providing science-based benchmarks to track and monitor progress can motivate and focus action (Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Healthy People 2020 represents the fourth generation of this initiative, building on a foundation of three decades of work (Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Over the years it has been modified, strengthened, and expanded to cover a wide range of health related concerns with its main focus aimed at prioritizing and emphasizing disease prevention. The goals of Healthy People 2020 are to attain high-quality, longer lives free of preventable disease, disability,

Moreover, IOM (2011) states that Healthy People 2020’s goals are to prevent disease, allow patients to live longer lives, promote health and

Healthy people 2020 “ establishes national goals and objectives for policy, programs, and activities to address the major health challenges facing our country today, and seeks to assure conditions in which people can be healthy, both now and for generations to come” (Secretary Advisory Committee, 2010, pg., 2). This initiative helps supports people on their health and wellbeing. It strives to identify potential health risks and help support improvement priorities. Healthy people 2020 have elaborated with different sectors to strengthen these policies by proving goals and objectives.

Hello Jennifer, nice post! I learned about Healthy People 2020 in my Wellness Concepts class. This governmental health initiative is an excellent one, as the aim is to not to just increase “life expectancy” but to increase a “healthy life expectancy.” Healthy People 2020 focuses on wellness, which is multi-dimensional and concerned with quality of life and well-being, rather than plain existing. Today, the major causes of death are heart disease, cancer, and lower respiratory disease, which are all chronic diseases that are lifestyle related. Conversely, in the early 1900’s the causes of death were pneumonia, tuberculosis, and enteritis, which were acute and infectious. Therefore, today we have more of a chance to live a long and healthy life,

The United States is one of the countries profoundly affected by health disparities and inequities. One may argue this is attributable to its diverse ethnic and racial groups and wide geographical area coverage, but still, it is extremely undesirable to record that extent of health disparities and inequities. The 78.8 years life expectancy is just the average. Some states have a life expectancy of high as 86 years whereas as low as 68 years. The standard deviation of life expectancy across the states is very huge. For instance, the life expectancy in Summit County, Colorado is 86.6 years whereas in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, the life expectancy is 66.8 years (Welch, 2017). A margin of about 20 years is troubling, especially for a developed country like the United States. These disparities also apply for other health indices from region to region and ethnic group to another. Hence, this agenda is on the right

There is not singe factor that determine the quality of health and wellbeing. Many intersecting social and individual factors control the societies health. Income inequality is one of the leading determinant for our health. The effects of income inequality on health maybe understood by examining some social mechanisms, such as public education and healthcare, structural violence, disruption of social cohesion and social capital; and individual risky behaviors. (Kawachi and Kennedy, 1999)

Tobacco is one of the world's dangerous drug which is haunting human lives to death. Over a billion adults are addicted to this drug and wasting their money, time and health. Nowadays there has been an ongoing debate/discussion among many people about the role of government in restricting the usage of Tobacco and thereby safeguarding the health of the public. In my personal opinion, both government and the Individual together needs to work to overcome this problem.

Advertising for tobacco is another source that cause teenagers smoke and adults smoke. Recently, tobacco companies have found new ways to promote their products to youth. They support their sporting events, concerts and movie. Many people favor idols or stars smoke in the movies and they seems very cool. And Teenagers are curious about imitation. Smoke containing nicotine acts as a stimulant to the brain. Nicotine in the bloodstream acts to make the smoker feel calm. In fact, nicotine is a lethal poison, affecting the heart, blood vessels, and hormones. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds. More than 60 of these are known or suspected to cause cancer. What is more, secondhand smoke can be harmful in many ways and it ruins thousands of non-smoking people, children's health. The US Surgeon General and the US Food and Drug Administration are among those who have examined the evidence and concluded that tobacco advertising does increase overall consumption. If we ban adverts on tobacco products, they will gradually lose their appeal, because they won't symbolize anything "cool", "smart" or "amazing". Tobacco products will become ordinary consumption goods and thus the number of young people who take up smoking in order to "be somebody" will decrease.

The tobacco industry kills more people in North America from Monday to Thursday of each week than the terrorists murdered in total on September 11, 2001. That sounds unrealistic, doesn’t it? Well, smoking is an epidemic that affects us all, whether you are a smoker or you aren’t. In order to stop this epidemic, we need to

Nicotine use is a leading preventable cause of death in the world, directly and indirectly responsible for 440,000 deaths per year. The health problems that result in tobacco use tally an annual of $75 billion in direct medical costs (Slovic 36). That money spent on medical problems for smokers should be used to pay for more important things in our society such as schools, libraries, childcare, etc.