Please read the following article (Write the answers in your notebook and check them against the model answers by clicking on the link called “model answer” at the bottom of this page):
Health Inequalities
Fair Society, Healthy Lives (2010), the independent review of health inequalities in England commissioned by government and undertaken by Professor Sir Michael Marmot of University College London, sets out the implications of health inequalities. It makes it clear that material circumstance, social environment, psychosocial factors, behaviours and biological factors are all important influences on health. In practice, this means that in order to tackle health inequalities, we need to consider the much broader context of our lives.
For instance, helping people into work can be very good for health. It provides not only income, but also – importantly – a stake in society.
Early child development and educational attainment are also crucial for future health and wellbeing, as well as improving job opportunities and providing a route out of poverty. While on the whole we are living longer than ever before, people’s health and wellbeing varies significantly across England. And there is a social gradient of health – the lower a person’s social position, the worse his or her health. People in disadvantaged areas are more likely to have shorter life expectancy and experience a greater burden of ill health – and there are differences in life expectancy and expectancy of life in good health across the socioeconomic spectrum. This inequality is driven by the underlying social factors that affect people’s health and wellbeing –‘the causes of the causes’.
The Marmot Review states there are gaps of up to 7 years in life expectancy between the richest and poorest neighbourhoods, and up to 17 years in disability-free life expectancy. It also highlights wide variation within areas; for instance in London, in one ward in Kensington and Chelsea, a man now has a life expectancy of 88 the implications of health inequalities are, compared with 71 years in Tottenham Green, one of the capital’s poorer wards. Low income and deprivation are particularly associated with higher levels of obesity, smoking, mental illness and harms arising from drug and alcohol misuse.
Protected equality characteristics can also have an impact on health. Evidence shows that inequalities based on race, disability, age, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity can interact in complex ways with socioeconomic position in shaping people’s health. Some vulnerable groups and communities, for example people with learning disabilities or travellers, have significantly poorer life expectancy than would be expected based on their socioeconomic status alone.
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