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Impacts of poverty on health
Factors leading to social inequalities
Relationship of poverty and healthcare
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Despite phenomenal improvement in global health care during the last three decade, there is still strong sign that a great disparities exist between poor and wealthy nations. Whereby cases such women are dying of post-partum haemorrhage, children dying of preventable illness such as pneumonia and diarrhoea or someone stepping on land mine in old war zones indicates the harsh reality that less fortunate people have to deal with. Obviously there is no biological reason why a person born in Mozambique should have a shorter life expectancy than a person born in America. Sure, there will always be economic and social difference within countries, but they shouldn't cause disease and suffering at a large-scale. That is completely unnecessary. That is health inequity.
The question is why has it got to such a level when the world has enough wealth and knowledge to help fix most of these problems, or at least improve the condition? Well, this is largely due to the complexity in the chains of causation in each case. The combination of unfair economics and bad politics are major roadblocks in the pursuit for greater health equality.
Economic is closely linked to health. An important underlying cause of the current health inequality is poverty. It limits access to basic resources such as sanitation, clean water and food. This often leads to infection with diseases or malnutrition, causing diarrhoea and other illnesses. Furthermore, some diseases are not only the result of poverty, but have been contributed to poverty. Better health enables more people to take part in the labour force, increase productivity and could add billions of dollars to the economy. On the other hand if majority of the population is experiencing health problem than it ...
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...ice and research which resulted in increase life expectancy plus decrease child mortality. This shows the fact that we know how to do it and now the challenge is to spread those approach more equably and more importantly make it a responsibility on the global community to decide it is a priority.
The analysis on two contributing factors of the inequalities in health among countries presents the fact that those whose lives are cut short by unequal economic and political conditions are subject to a brutal inequality. It is clear that the wide inequalities in health among nations pose real challenges. Multi-disciplinary approaches is required to tackle the difficult task of disentangle the intertwine chains of causation involved. This will involve a joint effort by economist, epidemiologists, politicians, medical scientists and many others to reduce the inequality.
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 ...
Having been born and raised in a third world country, I can say with certainty that I have experienced the ravaging effect of poverty and lack of health care providers. I still
Wilkinson, R. M. (2003). Social determinants of health - the solid facts. [S.l.]: World Health Organization.
Wilkinson, R.G. & Marmot, M.G. 2003, Social determinants of health: the solid facts, World Health Organization.
The health care industry is positioned for the global market place. It is expected to grow exponentially in health-related services for the elderly. China’s population of individuals over sixty years old is expected to grow to one third in the next twenty-five years. Though their culture view aging somewhat differently than in United States, they are interested in the attractive senior living options established here. Senior care encompasses private care facilities, home health care, products, drugs and medical equipment. As the largest health care market in the world American companies have made significant global inroads over the last two decades. These businesses are positioned to offer additional services directed at retirees, and children who will be responsible for their parents and potentially their grandparents as well.
What are Health disparities? Health disparities are "preventable difference in the burden of disease, violence, injury or opportunities to meet optimal health experienced by socially disadvantaged populations". This population can be defined by elements such as race, gender, income, career and geographical location. Health disparities are biased and are related to the historical and uneven distribution of social, economic, political and environmental features. Some of this features include poverty, ecological risks, limited access to health care, educational discriminations and individual and behavioral factors. Some people believe that health disparities are ethically wrong because it demonstrates historical inequality. some ethical values of important in bioethics such as "Kantian ethics, contractarian ethics, and utilitarian ethics have provided theoretical justification" on why health disparities are ethically wrong. While most people believe in the unfairness of these approach to health care solutions, others sorely believe that this approach is beneficiary for those that can't afford proper care due to cost because of their financial limitation, geographical location, ethnicity/race or gender orientation. In this paper, I will expatiate on some disadvantages subsidized by this factors to the population in concern and will cite some of the difficulties faced by these populations due to their inadequate access to good or better health care.
According to the World Health Organisation (2017) the social determinants of health are defined as the conditions where people are born, grown, work and live, which also includes the health system. The social determinants of health determined populations health’s outcomes and therefore linked with health inequalities (WHO, 2017)
“The only real nation is humanity” (Farmer 123). This quote represents a huge message that is received in, Tracy Kidder’s, Mountains Beyond Mountains. This book argues that universal healthcare is a right and not a privilege. Kidder’s book also shows the audience that every individual, no matter what the circumstances, is entitled to receive quality health care. In the book Kidder represents, Paul Farmer, a man who spends his entire life determined to improve the health care of impoverished areas around the world, namely Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the world. By doing this the audience learns of the horrible circumstances, and the lack of quality health care that nations like Haiti live with everyday, why every person has the right to healthcare no matter what, and how cost effectiveness should not determine whether or not these people get to live or die. Two texts that also argue this idea are Monte Leach’s “Ensuring Health Care as a Global Human Right,” and Darshak Sanghavi’s “Is it Cost Effective to Treat the World’s Poor.” Leach’s article is an interview with Benjamin Crème that illustrates why food, shelter, education, and healthcare are human rights that have to be available to everyone. He shares many of the same views on health care as Farmer, and the two also share similar solutions to this ongoing problem. Leach also talks about the rapidly growing aids epidemic, and how it must be stopped. Like farmer, he also argues that it is easier to prevent these diseases then to cure them. Furthermore, Sanghavi’s article represents many of the questions that people would ask about cost effectiveness. Yet similar to Farmer’s views, Sanghavi argues that letting the poor d...
First of all, there are many issues which influence the ethnic inequalities in health whi...
Over the years, the social determinants of health (SDOH) have been receiving more attention due to its importance in determining peoples’ health access, health quality and health outcome. The social determinants of health have been described by various scholars as the situation or environmental condition in which people are born, or where they grow, live and work; unfortunately these conditions have continued to affect and determine people’s ability to access proper care.1-5 In other words, the SDOH continues to consciously and unconsciously influence people’s access to most opportunities in life including access to healthcare services both in developed and developing countries.2 This issues have continue to deteriorate in most developing countries increasing people’s susceptibility to multi-morbidity among different age groups, with a slight increase among the elderly.6
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
Current research suggests the countries with the smallest income differences have the best health status rather than the richest countries. Where income differences remain great, as in this country, health inequalities will persist. For example: Children in the lowest social class are five times more likely to die from an accident than those in the top social class, Infant mortality rates are highest among the lowest social
A wide variety of community, individual and national factors determine the delivery of health.2 There is a growing number of evidence on inequalities in both accessing of health and the distribution ...
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.
Not everyone is born into a life of the rich and glamorous. Those who are fortunate enough know that they are very lucky to be in their position. Others however are totally in different situations. They need to fend for themselves and having meal is something which comes only once a day. Malnutrition is the obvious result of not consuming the right amount of food. This therefore will lead to outbreaks of diseases but in poverty stricken countries there are no hospitals to cure this. Lacking infrastructure means lacking educational rights. People who are living in poverty can not afford to send their children to school so this will mean an unclear future for their children. Furthermore, living in crowded areas, this has a tendency to increase the chances of disease as people are drinking from unsafe sources of water. People around the world are not aware of how immense this issue is and sometimes hesitant to believe the scale that it has risen to. Without understanding for people living disadvantage from the rest then there is no cure for the problem.