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Understanding the socio-economic influences on health
Understanding the socio-economic influences on health
Social determinants of health and wellbeing
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Everyone has the right to attain health care as it is a essential part of human rights. The provision of basic health care to all Canadians is enforced upon society. That is, every legal citizen or resident has a right to have equal access to health care. Canada’s Universal Health Care is a national health care plan that is publicly funded through taxes and government funding. Everyone should be entitled human rights without discrimination, and having sufficient living and well-being, whether they have different nationalities, sex, religion, language, or any other status. Health care is a fundamental human right as it protects the rights and freedom of individuals’. When human rights are disregarded, the social influences attempts to persuade The Canadian health care system takes on an egalitarian liberalism approach that supports substantive equality, which eliminates undeserving barriers to give equality while protecting citizens’ rights and freedom (Wendling, 2015, P. 15). Thus, egalitarians focus on the process to reach to the end result through equity, given access to the same opportunities. With this perspective, they argue that individuals should be given human rights when they do not impose any individual the burden of unnecessary expenses. When rights are disregarded in health care, it is impossible to live a life; if one’s biological structure is not properly functioning. While a small portion of society believes in having government funding to limit their resources, majority of Canadians support the idea of having publicly funded services. On the other hand, although supporting publicly funded services, some argue that the Canadian health care system lack the delivery mechanism of health care, especially those associated with efficiency and the time of delivery (Madore, 2014, P. 317). Since health care is given equal access to everyone, it would be obvious that there would be wait times. While others argue that because of the lack of delivery mechanisms in the public health system, people prefer private sectors in which patients would have to pay for their health care, but have faster access to treatment. Privatization of Society constructs the cultural interpretations and perceptions on health and how individuals perceive health as. The social determinants of health, such as race/ethnicity, sex, education, status, and etc, are the social and economic conditions of life (Mikkonen & Raphael, 2010, P. 7). They affect health through biomedical and lifestyle risk factors. The inequalities in the social determinants of health lead to poor mental and physical health. Those subjected to poor quality social determinants of health are more likely to die from cancer, diabetes, or respiratory or cardiovascular diseases. Health is shaped by income and the distribution of wealth in society since it determines the quality of other social determinants of health, as there is a strong connection between the size of the income gap and the health of a population (Mikkonen & Raphael, 2010, P. 7). The wider the gap between the rich and poor, the greater the unequal distribution of resources and the poorer the population’s overall quality of social determinants of health. With the lack of financial stability, there are many other factors that contribute to the social construction of health: insecure housing, unstable employment, food insecurity, and etc. If there are better equalities of the social determinants of health, the better the health of citizens. Therefore, governments ought to pursue policies that improve the social
LaPierre, T. A. (2012). Comparing the Canadian and US Systems of Health Care in an Era of Health Care Reform. Journal of Health Care Finance, 38(4), 1-18.
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are increasingly becoming a major problem of Public Health around the World. The impact of resources and material deprivation among people and populations has resulted in an increase in mortality rate on a planetary scale. Social determinants of health are defined as the personal, social, economic and the environmental conditions which determines the health status of an individual or population (Gardner, 2013). Today’s society is characterized by inequalities in health, education, income and many other factors which as a result is becoming a burden for Public Health around the world. Research studies have shown that the conditions in which people live and work strongly influenced their health. Individuals with high levels of education and fall within the high income bracket turn to have stable jobs, live in the best neighborhood and have access to quality health care system than individuals who have low education and fall with the low income bracket. This paper is to explain different social determinants of health and how they play ...
The Canadian health care system promises universality, portability, and accessibility; unfortunately, it faces political challenges of meeting pub...
According to editorial one, universal health care is a right that every American should be able to obtain. The author provides the scenario that insurance companies reject people with preexisting conditions and that people typically wait to receive health care until it's too much of a problem due to the extreme costs. Both of these scenarios are common among Americans so the author uses those situations to appeal to the readers' emotions. Editorial one also includes logical evidence that America could follow Canada's and Europe's universal health care systems because both of those nations are excelling in it.
Wilkinson, R. M. (2003). Social determinants of health - the solid facts. [S.l.]: World Health Organization.
America is known for democracy, freedom, and the American Dream. American citizens have the right to free speech, free press, the right to bear arms, and the right to religious freedom to name a few. The Declaration of Independence states that American citizens have the rights including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” America promises equality and freedom and the protection of their rights as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. But with all the rights and freedoms that American citizens enjoy, there is one particular area where the United States seems to be lacking. That area is health care. The United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have some form of legal recognition of a right to health care (Yamin 1157). Health care reform in the United States has become a major controversy for politicians, health care professionals, businesses, and citizens. Those in opposition to reform claim that health care is not a human right, therefore the government should not be involved. Supporters of reform believe that health care is most definitely a human right and should be available to everyone in the United States instead of only those who can afford it, and that it is the government’s responsibility to uphold that right.
The introductory of Canada’s health care system in the mid-20th century, known as Medicare, led the country into the proud tradition of a public health care system, opposite to America’s privatized health care system in the south. Though Canada’s health care system still holds some aspects of a privatized system, it is still readily available for all citizens throughout the nation. After continuous research, it is clear to state that public health care and the association it has with welfare state liberalism is by far a more favourable option for Canada, than that of private health care and the association it has with neo-conservatism. To help understand why public health care is a better and more favourable option for Canada, it is fundamental
Canada’s Health Care system is gradually growing to be a major concern in today’s society with providing Canadians with the standard of care they deserve. Health care has become an issue because of the shortage of doctors in Canada; many of them are either going to the U.S.A. or going to other countries to practice in hospitals and clinics. The earning cap imposed by the government has forced doctors to work fewer hours than are necessary to serve the public. Many Canadians are without a doctor to help them with their needs and emergency rooms are filled to capacity with no available beds for those who have to be admitted to the hospital. Waiting time for specialist and specialty tests have become so long that someone diagnosed with a major illness may die before they can be properly treated. Nurses and others in the medical field are overworked and understaffed because the government has made cut-backs to the Health Care System. We live in a country where our health care is a privilege to have, but getting ill is becoming a problem if there is not adequate facilities and professionals to care for the sick. Today’s society is aging longer than ever and will need health care longer than before; patients recovering from hospital stays are being sent home more quickly than ever before, and terminal patients are being sent home for their last days.
Wilkinson, R.G. & Marmot, M.G. 2003, Social determinants of health: the solid facts, World Health Organization.
Social determinants of health have attracted the attention of governments, policy makers and international health organisations over the last three decades (Hankivsky & Christoffersen 2008). This is because social conditions which people are born in, live and work play an important role in their health outcomes (WHO 2015). According to Kibesh (1200) social determinants drive health disparities, disrupts the human developmental process and undermine the quality of life and opportunities for people and families (ref). Thus, several theories have been developed over the years to provide in-depth understanding of the social determinants of health and to reduce health inequalities (Hankivsky & Christoffersen, 2008). However, there is still significant
Bryant, Toba, Chad Leaver, and James Dunn. 2009. “Unmet healthcare need, gender, and health inequalities in Canada.” Health Policy 91(2009): 24-32.
Social determinants of health has been a large topic for many years and can have a positive and negative effect on individuals, families and communities. (World Health Organisation, 2009) The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels, which are themselves influenced by policy choices. Social determinants have many factors and in this essay education will be the main social determinant of health discussed and how this could have an impact on the physical and mental sides of health.
The just delivery of health care falls into a pattern of rights. Medicaid and the US political view aside, the right to health care is a basic human right whose only requirement is that someone be a human being regardless of their gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic class. That is, the right is a non-relational right that every human needs irrespective of differences in individual goals (Lomasky, 1981). As a positive right, it is the obligation of others to provide for one’s health needs, within limits. In satisfying the right to health care, society contributes toward the fulfillment of the right for the individual. In Medicaid for example, the right is supported through taxation, among other mechanisms and delivered by a
Consequently, we have the debate of whether health care should be a right or a privilege. Reid mentions in his book, The Healing of America, that United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, Canada all have universal health care. He also adds that they have better health outcomes than the U.S. in addition to lower infant mortality rates (Reid, 2010, p. 31-34). The U.S.’s mindset views health care as a privilege. However, President Obama brought his liberal agenda to the table and proposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in 2010 (Teutsch & Rechel, 2012). It is projected that by the year 2019, the PPACA will transform healthcare as a right rather than a privilege (Teutsch & Rechel, 2012).
The definition of health by WHO and adopted by IFSW is holistic, as it embodies both the medical model and the social model of health. Health is described as not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. It also encapsulates both physical, mental and social well being (WHO 2015). Bywaters describes health inequality as an indication of social injustice and the violation of human rights (Bywaters, 2015). Health inequality is defined by Dave Backwith as the differences in the rate of illnesses and deaths, which occur between socio economic groups. He however goes on to concur with Rose and Hartzenbuehler (2009) that health inequality results from systemic poverty and discrimination which creates psychosocial injuries (Backwith, 2015). Braveman succinctly describes health inequality as the difference in health resulting from socioeconomic disadvantages (Braveman, 2004, cited in Bywaters, 2015). It is crucial to recognise the fact that social inequalities as the term denotes arises predominantly from disparities in social gradients in life. Therefore studies have shown that countries with higher levels of income inequality have more health and social problems when compared to countries with lower levels of income inequalities (Wilkinson and Picket, 2009, 2010). Health inequality results from negative social conditions like poverty, unemployment and impaired mobility which have impacted negatively on individuals health (Fish and Karban,