Child Counselling Therapy

 

social inequalities and health

                       

Social inequality is a field in sociology that focuses on the distribution of goods and weight in society. A goods can be, for example, income, education, employment or parental leave, and weight can be exemplified by drug abuse, crime, unemployment and marginalization. Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and consequences for different social positions or situations within a group or society. According to WHO definition health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.So here we look at connection between social inequalities and health.

There is ample evidence that social factors, including education, employment status, income level, gender, addiction, social support,social gradient and ethnicity, have a significant impact on a person's health. In every country there are wide variations in the health status of different social groups of low, middle or high income. The lower a person's socio-economic status, the greater the risk of poor health.Those social inequalities impact on health in different ways as social determinants.

The World Health Organization defines social determinants of health as conditions or circumstances in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. These conditions are shaped by political, social, and economic forces . A toxic combination of poor policies and programmes, unfair economic arrangements and bad governance may lead to unfavorable conditions. Ideally, the socio-politico-economic conditions in a society should be such that its citizens enjoy a favorable set of social resources, and that these resources are distributed fairly. The quality, quantity, and distribution of these resources, together, to a large extent, determine citizen's health and well-being. Opportunities to have an education, a healthy living environment, nutrition, healthcare and employment are some of those resources.We able to identify  socail inequalities impact on health as mentioned below,

Social ineqalities	How impact on health
Education	Education generally offers better jobs, more money and many more benefits, including better health insurance for better access to quality health care. High earnings allow workers to have a safe neighborhood as well as a healthy diet. So withdrawal of investment in education will lead to more illnesses and higher medical care costs offset by the expected 'savings' of this budget cut.   Example: In 2011 the prevalence of diabetes in the United States was 15 percent for adults who did not complete high school. That was twice as high as the rate among college graduates. In the same year, more than one-fourth of adults without a high school diploma were smokers, compared to 8 percent of college graduates. Adults who don't finish high school also can expect to live nine years less than their college-educated peers. And that already sizable gap is widening.
Income	We know high income people are healthy. Various long-term studies have confirmed that this relationship is largely causal - higher incomes lead to better health. Income levels and distribution and poverty are a major cause of health inequality in the population. It directly affects the health of people through the products and services they buy that can help or harm their health. It also affects various factors that indirectly affect health, including social status and control of unforeseen events.   Example: For high-income countries such as Scotland, socio-economic inequality appears to be a more important factor in determining overall health and the extent of health inequality.
Unemployment	Unemployment causes stress, which in the long run can have long-term physical health effects and can have adverse effects on people's mental health, including depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. Unemployed people have higher annual morbidity rates, a lack of health insurance and access to health care, and an increased risk of death.   Example: Men who have lost their jobs in the last four years are three times more likely than men who have recently been consistently employed to abuse alcohol.
Social gradient	The social hierarchy of health is a term used to describe the phenomenon of poor health and short lives for those who are less advantageous than those who are less advantageous in terms of socioeconomic status.   Example: Research on the Whitehall Study of British Civil Servants shows a strong inverse relationship between social class and health and deaths from a wide range of diseases according to analyzed data.
Addiction	Addiction is not a disease that affects only one person. It is also harmful to the whole family. Because addiction leads to unavoidable cravings and temptation to drink or use to avoid withdrawal symptoms, addicts give their priority to substances. They no longer have a choice in this matter.individuals turn to alcohol,drugs and tobacco according to to influence of their social setting. Addicted people often have one or more health problems that can include lung or heart disease, stroke, cancer or mental health conditions. Image scans, chest x-rays and blood tests can show the harmful effects of long-term drug use throughout the body.   Example: It is now well-known that tobacco smoke can cause many cancers, methamphetamine can cause severe dental problems, known as meth mouth, and that opioids can lead to overdose and death. In addition, some drugs, such as inhalants, may damage or destroy nerve cells, either in the brain or the peripheral nervous system.
Gender	Gender mainly affects non-communicable diseases and conditions in developing and industrialized countries. Gender interacts with social, economic, and biological criteria and represents the framework for the consequences of tropical diseases to create different health outcomes for men and women.   Example: Dementia, depression, and arthritis are more common in women, while men are more prone to lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and suicide (Broom, 2012).
work	Job is important on many levels and can give meaning and focus to our lives. Job problems can include job dissatisfaction, workplace injury, stress, discrimination and harassment, violence, sudden death, retirement, dismissal, and unemployment. Common causes of work-related stress include long hours, overwork, job insecurity, and conflicts with co-workers or bosses. The stress of dealing with changing work conditions beyond our control increases the risk of developing health problems such as anxiety and depression. Management Depression.   Example: In 2007-08, job-related injuries killed 150 Australians, 137 of whom were men. About 80 percent of those deaths occurred in four industries: ·       Construction ·       Transport and storage ·       Agriculture, afforestation and fishing ·       production. In general, the most common causes of work-related fatal injuries include: ·       Vehicle Accidents (Four out of every 10 workplace deaths) ·       Falling objects ·       Moving objects ·       Falling ·       Clogging of moving machinery.
Early life	The earliest years of our lives is crucial in many ways, including how they prepare us  roads to good health or beyond. Family income, education, neighboring resources and other social and economic factors affect health at every stage In life, however, the effects on young children are particularly dramatic. The association between socioeconomic factors and child health is evident from birth, as children born to mothers with low income and educational levels are more likely to be premature or of low birth weight; these birth outcomes are strong predictors of infant survival and also of health across the entire life course.   Example: According to the researches  shown that brain, cognitive and behavioral development early in life are strongly linked to an array of important health outcomes later in life, including cardiovascular disease and stroke, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, smoking, drug use and depression conditions that account for a major portion of preventable morbidity and premature mortality in the United States
Stress	Stress symptoms can affect our body, our thoughts and feelings, and our behavior. Being able to identify common stress symptoms can help us manage them. Uncontrolled stress can contribute to a number of health problems, including high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.   Example: The researchers found that participants who reported high stress levels over time had a 22 percent higher risk of developing high blood pressure compared to those who reported lower blood pressure levels.
Transport	While motor transport systems still lead to increased air pollution, reduced traffic accidents and physical activity, there are many alternatives to transport and cycling to improve health.   Example: According to the research done by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, every extra hour you spend in a car a day also contributes to the likelihood of becoming overweight. On the other hand, every kilometer of walking per day reduces the risk of obesity. Walking, cycling, migration-oriented communities are associated with healthy populations.
Social exclusion	The stress of belonging to an excluded group can adversely affect mental health. Long-term stress raises cortisol levels in the body and reduces the activity of the immune system. Chronic stress associated with racism and discrimination has been linked to diabetes, cardiovascular and other diseases.   Example: Taking age into account, socially excluded men had a mortality rate almost eight times higher than the average (standardized mortality ratio [SMR] 7.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] 7.03 to 8.74, 30 studies) and socially excluded women almost 12 times higher than the average (SMR 11.86, 95% CI 10.42 to 13.30, 29 studies).

Increasing evidence from scientists around the world shows that many health outcomes can be linked to the level of economic inequality in a population that provides everything from life expectancy to infant mortality and obesity. Increased economic inequality seems to lead to worse health outcomes. By greater inequality, epidemiologists studying the health of populations mean more than just poverty. Poor health and poverty go hand in hand. But high levels of inequality, epidemiological research shows that even the health of the rich is adversely affected, mainly because researchers argue that inequality reduces social cohesion, a dynamic that causes greater stress, fear and insecurity for everyone.

When consider social ineqaulties impact on health, We should definitly concern on COVID 19 pandemic as well.Vaccine issuance around the world is rife with inequality. According to research by Agence France-Presse, high-income countries such as the United States and members of the European Union have received far more than the fair share of the vaccine dose. Although only 16 percent of the global population, individuals in high-income countries receive 47 percent of all vaccine doses. Although it is 9 percent of the world's population, it is the opposite of people in low - income countries who receive only 0.2 percent of all vaccine doses.

Finally we can conclude that , there is a storong connections between social inequalities and health. Health inequalities are systematic changes in health between socioeconomic conditions, social classes, gender, ethnicity, gender or other social groups that have different approaches to material and non-material resources. Social inequalities in health are also an economic problem because they negatively affect employment, economic growth and government spending, threatening sustainability and political legitimacy.So it is important to take actions to reduce social inequalities to enhance health of whole population without any barriers. The 10th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG10) aims to reduce inequalities based on income, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, class, ethnicity, religion and opportunity by 2030. Reducing these social and economic inequalities within and between countries is not only key to ensuring that no one is left behind, but it is also a necessary condition for sustainable poverty reduction and social integration. So as human being we all have responsibility to reduce social inequalities with better understanding to improve health of whole nation.