https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/upshot/income-inequality-its-also-bad-for-you

Question

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/upshot/income-inequality-its-also-bad-for-your-health.html

https://www.unnaturalcauses.org/assets/uploads/file/UC_Transcript_4.pdf

Please use the following guidelines when completing your response:

500-word minimum

Double spaced

Include in-text citations and reference page

1.) What are some of the social determinants of health at play in the reading and video? Discuss the relationship between social inequality and health using specific examples.

2.) After completing the readings, discuss at least two strategies that could be used to reduce health inequality.

3.) How has your understanding of health changed after reading the both articles? What have you learned about the connection between society and the health of individuals?

Explanation / Answer

1. According to the national study carried out by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute( 2017), there is a significant difference in the health of people based on their experiences with equal and unequal life opportunities. Using the average life expectancy of people across the different counties of the United States, the team of researchers found that people in unequal communities were more likely to die before the age of 75 than people in more equal communities, even if the average incomes were the same. The study was significant as it showed that health is not merely related to the actual poverty index as was shown by earlier studies of social development, but it was also related to the experience of relative deprivation, that is, it is not the mere lack of economic and health opportunities which is the cause ofillnesses in the lower strata. Instead, the study showed that experience of an economic or social lack or scarcity compared to the opportunities available to the elite and more economically privileged groups in ones own society is likely to create decrement in health. A prominent social factor that could explain the role of economic disparity in the prevalence of illnesses can be traced back to the communities themselves. The researchers extended that the lack of economic cohesion in the districts are less likely to see the well to do Families from investing in education and public health where wealthy residents can essentially buy their way out of social services. It is to this effect that the Harvard Economics Professor,S.V. Subramanian stated, “ inequality tends to concentrate income in fewer hands, creating more low-income households — and people in low-income households don’t live as long.” ( NyTimes, 2015)

Moreover, social inequality has been shown to be a major source of psychological stress in health studies and research shows that racial minorities tend to have lower access to health and medical facilities due to the lack of public aid . In addition, the researchers from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute showed that it is stressful to live among people who are wealthier than one’s own community. Stress may translate into mental health problems or cardiac disease for lower-income residents of unequal places( Evans et al, 2011)

References:

Evans, G.V et al ( 2011). ‘Stressing out the Poor: Chronic Physiological Stress and the Income Acievement Gap.’ In Community Investments. Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality. Pp. 18-21.

https://inequality.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/PathwaysWinter11_Evans.pdf

Katz, M.(2015).”Income Inequality: It’s Also Bad for Your Health”. In The New York Times. March 30, 2015.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/upshot/income-inequality-its-also-bad-for-your-health.html

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