Health inequality
The world in which human beings are living has never been so rich earlier, but today it is. The global population lives short and brutal lives which are being possessed by hunger, ill-health and some diseases. On an average, the life expectancy in Sweden countries in 2015 was 82.5 years and in Swaziland was 58.9 years according to the World Health Organisation in 2017. From the last 30 years in the World, entering a neo-liberal tends to economic growth which further results in growing wealth gap between rich and poor within the people and also within the countries and parallel to this, there is also a growing health inequality.
Health inequalities are distinctions of health which are systematically connected with being socially disadvantaged. Being poor or a member of a disadvantaged group or a female are the examples of socially disadvantaged. Basically, it is a difference in the placement of health determinants between different population groups. It is a systematic difference in health that can be neglected by suitable policy intervention which is considered to be inequitable and discriminatory. All over the world, social position is diversified according to economic resources, power over resources which are often considered by measures including income or expenditure, wealth, education, occupation, residential location includes rural/urban, slum/non-slum and more/less advantaged neighborhoods, gender and sexual orientation.
The poor, racial/ethnic minorities, women, physically or mentally disabled persons, or other groups come under Disadvantaged Social Groups and they all have persistently experienced social disadvantage, discrimination and exclusion. In many societies, the elderly and children are also down sided by strategies or traditions. So, age is also relevant as well. Whether directly or indirectly, Social Advantage and Disadvantage are the powerful determinants of Health.
Health Equality
- Pursuing health equality is the act to eliminate difference in health between population groups which includes between rich and poor which are considered to be unfair and unjust. Basic efforts that help in evaluation of equitable health system:
- Uniform access to healthcare for those in equal need of health care.
- Uniform utilization of health care for those in equal need of health care
- The serious effort to reduce health inequalities would be the health education. The positioning of departments for prevention, social medicine and health electives such as social work, built capacity for research on health inequalities. Training and development courses in these streams will improve capacity for conducting field epidemiological studies.
- The Burden of Disease methodology has been used in Australia, the State Government of Victoria to chart the differences in health status between population groups which are differentiated by gender, rural location, socio-economic status and so on. The analysis of this methodology includes:
- The life Expectancy at birth
- Years of life lost due to disability
- Years of life lost due to premature death
One of the most serious effort to clear health inequalities was the “Health For All” (HFA) programme by WHO in 1978 Alma Ata Declaration, which is based on the principle of Primary Health Care (PHC)
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