Socially Stratifying Factors And Their Impact On Health Inequalities

The Role of Social Habits in Health Outcomes

Discuss About The Socially Stratifying Factors To Illuminate Inequities.

Equality in health distribution has always been a fundamental aspect within the health sector in our world today. The distribution of health has for the past years been dependent on several factors such as social class including income, wealth and education, and demographic differences including gender and age. As stated by Astell et al 2015, inequality of this distribution of health can be determined by comparing the various health outcomes of people which can be clearly seen in infant deaths, morbidity, mortality rates, disability and life expectancy. In every country’s population, there must be a group of people that receive better health care than others as a result of being better exposed to healthcare facilities. There are many factors that could lead to this including distance to the facilities and good infrastructure making it easy to access these facilities. Affordability of health care is also one of the greatest factors affecting health care seeking habits. The aim of this discussion is to explain how past and recent public health models explain the subject of inequitable distribution of health.

There are several social habits that affect the health of any given person. These habits include diet, drug abuse and physical activity. Access to a balanced diet and nutritious food is of importance to make someone healthy and immune to diseases (Cahuas et al 2015). Such decision to access such nutritious foods is dependent on a variety of factors such as the level of education of a person and income received by an employee. As explained by public health models in the U.K, people with lower levels of education are bound to make poor decisions when it comes to diet hence they may not consider having balanced diet daily or limiting junk food intake. Such people are also predisposed to poor health seeking habits hence they do not consider visiting health care clinics for checkups and health advice (Rachele, et al 2017). On the other hand, low levels of income also affect the affordability of receiving medical care where these services are expensive. Not long ago for example one had to pay to receive medical care in the U.K but recently medical care has been made free for all. Low income would also limit one from accessing nutritious foods leaving them no option but to opt to any form of foodstuff affordable to them.

Social Class and Health Distribution

For a longtime social classes inequalities has been a factor that has influenced distribution of health. People belonging to a higher social class are deemed to have high income earning jobs, wealth and access to higher education. As explained by Prasad, et al (2015), this has in a large way impacted the health distribution because such people are advantaged to receive immediate private care when they need it since they get to pay for personal health care services which is not affordable to those of low social class who opt to go to public hospitals and majorly rely on government subsidies since their income is not capable of paying for private services. Health outcomes on analysis have showed to favor those of higher social classes as compared to those of a lower social class. According to Krieger 2014, this can be explained by the fact that those belonging to higher classes have little to none occupational risks exposure. These class of people have occupied high managerial offices and do not indulge so much in field works as opposed to those who are subordinates and of a lower social class.

As stated by Kristensen, et al 2017, health outcomes have worsened with greater socioeconomic disadvantage in many countries. Occupational related questions have been introduced in many country’s census to assess health outcomes in relation to social classes. The British government for example introduced the five class scheme Registrar General’s Social Class (RGSC) in 1911 which has recently been replaced by the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC).The classification was based on occupations ranging from professional occupations to unskilled occupations as the last class. The various health outcomes of these occupations were compared and it was concluded that the lower classes had recorded a higher number of mortality and morbidity rate compared to the higher classes. This has been explained by the public health sector as due to increased exposure to occupational risks and limited access to healthcare by these group of people. The child mortality rate was also found to be significantly higher for the children whose parents belonged to a lower social class.

It is true to say that poverty exposes people to health hazards. The environment that we live in matters a lot since research has proven that there are environmental related infections and diseases. Sanitation is crucial for healthy living. As correlates with social class, not everyone can afford to live in lavish houses therefore people who are financially disadvantaged opt to live in small houses and in some countries even slums in areas where they are easily exposed to air pollution and dump housing (Waters et al 2014). There has been a materialistic explanation on the social inequalities that affect health. For example higher rates of childhood respiratory disease have been linked to dump housing. In the past for example the public health sector in the U.K explained that materialistic differences accounted for a large percentage of unequal health outcomes, however in the recent due to the various state help initiatives by the government to aid in rent and housing for the economically disadvantaged this explanations have become less relatable hence more explanations have been developed in recent days.

Environmental and Materialistic Factors

According to O’Neill et al 2014, social inequalities may have an emotional effect on people and can affect stress related centers of the brain. This emotional responses brought about by psycho-social stressing factors are related to health issues and risks. Some of the factors in our world today that might lead to emotional breakdown and stress include social support, poverty and work-related stress. The emotional response brought about by these stressful factors may lead to life threatening conditions including high blood pressure and heart attacks (Baker, et al 2018). Education has always been a big concern when it comes to health distribution. Health education has been introduced in the school curriculum of many countries so as to increase awareness of self-care and disease prevention. The public health sector has played a big role in ensuring that this education is widespread as much as possible within the U.K and other countries.

 Children are being taught on how to protect themselves from infections and to check their diet as early as they enter kindergarten. The old people have not been left behind as this education on self-care has been widely taught in their nursing homes. This initiative is aimed at improving health distribution so that people do not have to travel to seek medical care in cases where it is self-manageable. Although this form of education is being spread worldwide, it is notable that not everyone is equipped with this knowledge hence disadvantaged because the number of public health educators is often less than the wider population of any country (De Vogli, 2014). The ratio therefore can never be 1:1 hence there are those that are advantaged to others. There are some pregnant mothers who are not well educated to seek prenatal and antenatal care. This education is also crucial for diet choice hence such mothers may not be aware of the right diet to take to maintain the welfare and growth of the inborn.

The education on use of contraceptive and family planning is important to regulate the population of any country to a number where the resources are adequate for the population use (Baum et al 2014). The public health sector has increased effort in educating parents on the recent forms of family planning and contraceptive use. The past forms of family planning are being trodden over by new forms hence the need to be kept up to date which might not be the case to some disadvantaged people whom this information might not reach. The contraceptive prevalence rate in developing countries is improving due to health education and this has also helped in curbing HIV/AIDS transmission. Information about immunization has been quite significant in prevention of diseases and therefore it is quite important to both young parents and the youth. The World Health Organization (WHO) in conjunction with countries across the world has taken the initiative to implement immunization programs that enable such information spreads widely and also has ensured that these immunization services are availed freely for all to access. Immunization is also one of the sustainable development goals of the United Nations that aims at improving health across the globe.

Emotional and Psychosocial Factors

As stated by Bailey et al 2017, gender inequality is an issue that is affecting and has contributed to inequalities in health. Both male and female genders have certain roles that are perceived by the society that makes them exposed to different risks in health. Life expectancy for males is less compared to females in almost every country. An explanation to these differences in health outcomes has been explained by the fact that males tend to be exposed to a higher occupational risks such as fire accidents, chemical hazards, mechanical hazards and economics hazards. In the United Kingdom for example, males have recorded higher mortality rates than females in all ages. Health delivery is not also always the same for both genders due to their varying body biology and needs. According to Baron et al 2014, females tend to suffer more of emotional related conditions and are exposed psycho social hazards. There are also specific needs that are only suited for the females including pre, post and antenatal care. These needs bring about special care for women compared to men. In an attempt to eliminate gender inequality, there has been increased concern on the health of women with organizations all over the world creating programs that deliver specific health care services to women which are not available for men (Elsey et al 2016). Health seeking habits also differ from one gender to the other.

 
It is of concern that women tend to be involved more in health seeking habits as compared to men. This has created inequality in health delivery where women tend to receive more of the health care than men. The explanation behind this tendency is that men tend to shy away from specific health conditions with the notion that they would be degrading themselves if they sought certain health care especially those that are related to reproductive health. The perception to seek certain medical health care also varies in women and men as a result of certain culture and norms. The WHO suggests that gender differences in health are as a result of both biology and social factors which include distinct roles and behaviors of both genders as dictated by culture and norms. Some of the social behaviors are recognized worldly and revolve around smoking and alcohol abuse. These habits tend to affect mainly men in any given society resulting in smoking related conditions such as lung cancer and alcohol related ones such as liver cirrhosis affecting more men than women (Moore et al 2015).

Education and Health Distribution

Age has also been a factor that affects health distribution. Children and the elderly are valued to be a delicate group within the society that require utmost attention when it comes to their health (Robertson, 2014). Recently there has been an increase in nursing homes whereby health care providers are put into place to take care of the elderly and offer medical attention where need be. These nursing homes require a certain fee to be paid by family members or the individuals themselves and therefore they are not freely available for all the old people. The distribution of nursing homes therefore varies with need and are not accessible by everyone who is elderly. Health care provision for children is also increasing as the number of children hospital is relatively on the rise. Orphan facilities are being set up in various countries to cater for those not privileged to have parents who can cater for their health care. It is however true as explained by Sampson et al 2016 that not every orphan gets an opportunity to be taken care of in such facilities hence health care may not reach a certain group of street children or orphan as the number gets added each and every year within the population.

Equality to access health services is paramount and requires that travel distance to the facilities is equal to all which cannot be accomplished if the health facilities in a state are few or dispersed. The transport facilities should be in abundance as well and the roads in good condition to allow quick access in cases of emergencies. As supported by Moloughney 2016, the charges for the care should be low and affordable to all to ensure equality and waiting times within the facility should as well be equal without favoritism. A number of people within the country may be termed as hard to reach and therefore may be disadvantaged to receive healthcare as the rest of the population. This group includes the homeless, asylum seekers or refugees, individuals with drugs and alcohol use problems, people living with HIV, minority ethnic groups and people from sexual minority communities (Gahagan, et al 2015). This groups of people may be find it hard to access healthcare due to social barriers and stigma for example in cases of those living with HIV. Cultural and religious barriers may also make certain people not seek healthcare. For example some people still believe in traditional herbs and medicines as the right form of treatment despite the advancement in pharmaceutical drugs. Other people do not believe in seeking medical care in hospitals due to religious believes that they will recover naturally. As supported by Newman, et al 2015, public health education is proving to be quite a reliable avenue in which such groups are engaged and educated on the importance of health seeking. The creation of refugee camps has also helped reach out to the refugees in terms of health delivery. However engaging with socially excluded and marginalized population is still a challenge up to date and requires more attention.

Family Planning and Contraceptive Use

In conclusion, equitable health delivery is important in ensuring good health outcome and ought to be looked onto seriously in every country to ensure increased economic growth and welfare of all citizens. Health care is a basic need and ought to be made available to everyone in need of it at an affordable rate. States and various governments have made healthcare free for their citizens and this should be embraced and encouraged so that nobody is discriminated or left out. The United Nations in cooperation with other countries has aimed at ensuring health is distributed equally for all to access. Good health and well-being is listed third in the sustainable development goals and many nations are striving to attain this. According to Ahonen, et al 2018, good governance is crucial in ensuring that health is promoted within any given country or state. There are many factors that encourage accessibility of health care for all citizens. This includes good roads and infrastructure that connect people to health facilities. It is the role of any state to ensure that roads are in place and improved to allow easy urgent access to health care for all. Availability of these facilities is also important. There should be a good number of health clinics and centers that are evenly distributed among the country. Affordability of such services is also of importance since not everyone can afford to pay a certain amount for a service.

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