This essay will discuss, illustrate and evaluate the following statement: inequalities in health are increasing in the 21st century. The focus will be on one of the key determinants of health inequality, social class, specifically in the UK. The World Health Organisation define health inequalities as; ‘differences in health status or in the distribution of health determinants between different population groups. Some health inequalities are attributed to biological variations or free choice and others are attributable to the external environment and conditions mainly outside the control of the individuals concerned’ (Who.int, 2013). Therefore, while some variation in health experience is unavoidable, much of it can be attributed to unequal opportunities, that is, social inequality (Tones and Green, 2004, p. 68). Although philanthropic groups have been concerned about social inequalities for centuries, the issue of health inequalities in the UK was rejuvenated in the 1980s by the publication of the Black Report (Black and Townsend et al., 1982). Data amassed by the Black Report illustrated marked differences in mortality rates between the occupational classes, for both men and woman alike, at all ages. A class gradient was observed for most causes of death. The Black Report provided four theoretical explanations of the relationship between health and inequality: Artefact explanations: The approach that both health and class are artificial variables of the measurement process, and thus any relationship observed must also be seen as an artefact of little causal significance. It is now widely accepted that statistical inaccuracies are not accountable for the enduring magnitude of the social gradient (Graham, 2009, p. 13)... ... middle of paper ... ...0). This should be considered when measuring the impact of the evidence illustrated in table 1. While investigation is still in its infancy, researchers are examining the influence of different dimensions of social class and its various associations with health, thus allowing more accurate connections to be made. For example, improvements have been made to the classification process with the introduction of the NS-SEC. Widely regarded as a more precise measure than the Registrar General’s Social Class classification, and now widely used in ONS, the NS-SEC addressed many of the discrepancies associated with the old classification (Donkin et al., 2002b). This classification is present in the evidence illustrated in table 2 and figure 1. Both sets of evidence clearly demonstrate that health inequalities, in relation to social class, have increased in the 21st century.
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
People living in areas such as Playford, has shown to have a lower socioeconomic position, which made them at highest risk of poor health (WHO, 2017). Then, the social determinants of health support the understanding the difference between populations health levels, but also the reasons behind why some groups are healthier than others (Marmot, 2005) and the issue becomes a little bit deeper as people living in different areas related to others differently, so then the social stratification of health is affected by differences in gender, marital status, residential areas and ethnicity (Elstad,
Wilkinson, R. G., & Marmot, M. G. (2003). Social determinants of health: The solid facts.
Gavin Turrell, B. F. (1999). Socioeconomic Determinants of Health:Towards a National Research Program and a Policy and Intervention Agenda. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.
Equality in health implies that ideally everyone should have a fair opportunity to attain his or her full health potential and, more reasonably, that no one should be disadvantaged from achieving this potential. Based on this definition, the aim of policy for equity and health is not to eliminate all health differences so that everyone has the same level and quality of health, but rather to reduce or eliminate those which result from factors which are considered to be avoidable and unfair. To appreciate the importance of striving for equity in relation to health, it is necessary to be aware of just how extensive are the differences in health found in the world today. In every part of the region, and in every type of political and social system, differences in health have been noted between different social groups and between different geographical areas in the same country (Whitehead 2000). There is consistent evidence that inequalities in health result in disadvantaged groups having poorer survival chances, suffering a heavier burden of illness, and sharing a similar pattern of low quality of life
Working Group on Inequalities in Health (1982) Inequalities in Health (The Black Report), London, HMSO, 1982.
...an, P., Egerter, S., & Williams, D. R. (2011). The social determinants of health: coming
The essay will be looking at , poverty, employment and unemployment, poor diets as determinants of health in this context amongst other factors such as housing, mental health, social support network, education, culture, individual behaviours, genetics, gender because they have the best documented evidence on research in health inequalities in Britain available in the Black Report (DHSS 1980; Townsend, Davidson and Whitehead, 1992), Acheson Report (Acheson 1998), and FairSociety, HealthyLives Report, and other academic sources.
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 ...
Steinbach, R (2009) Equality, equity and policy [online] Health Knowledge. Available at: http://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/medical-sociology-policy-economics/4c-equality-equity-policy/inequalities-distribution [Accessed 3 January 2012]
According to marmot report, “inequalities are a matter of life and death”. Health inequality affects everyone except those at the very top of the social ladder. This is because health is socially graded – people farther down the social ladders are less healthy and have a shorter life expectancy as those at the top. Health Inequalities exist due to the unequal distribution of health in the society – “in the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age”.(2) Recent evidence shows that “socioeconomic factors such as income, wealth and education as the fundamental causes of wide range of health outcomes”.(3) For example in the UK, the rate of obesity has increased among adults in each social class, with the high increasing rate among the lower class. This inequality is stronger for women than men and also more among girls than
In view of social-class affecting health, the principle is straightforward. As an individual goes up the social-class ladder, health improves. As an individual goes down the ladder, health worsens (Henslin, 2016, p. 276). That being the case, social class has many factors that affect health.
A brief history of health inequality is that Edwin Chadwick published his understanding of health inequality in the first report on it called the ‘General report on the sanitary conditions of the labouring population of Great Britain’ in 1842...
Although there are concrete evidence showing the influence of SES on the inequality of health outcomes, there is no best unified way of measuring inequality as it can only be comprehensively represented through different measures of SES and health such as income, occupation and health outcomes indicators (Davis, McLeod, Ransom, & Ongley,
This essay reviews a selection of the literature on healthcare-related inequalities, with the aim of illuminating how we can differentiate between fair and unfair, and between avoidable and unavoidable, inequalities in health. This essay also reviews some of the more common methods used to measure healthcare inequalities and discusses their limitations. Some policy considerations are provided at the end.