The Major Causes of Poor Health (Essay Sample)

The Major Causes of Poor Health
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Healthcare has been the main concern in the American society; people are struggling with getting the proper care that they need. Everyone around the world wants to be healthy, but not everyone has the money to afford a healthy body. A person does not only need the money, but also a healthy environment to live in. In the essay, “The Social Production of Disease and Meanings of Illness,” Rene Dubos claimed that the social changes in the environment are the reason behind the decline in the mortality rate from infectious disease (1959). Also, Thomas Mckeown (1971) showed that biomedical interventions were not the reason behind the decline of mortality rate in England and Wales during the 19th century. This does not mean that medicine does not work; however, they’ tend to claim that social factors are more relevant in curing people. Such as, sanitation, clean neighborhoods, clean water, healthy food, and clean houses to live in. Syme and Berkman’s article, “Social Class, Susceptibility, and Sickness” argue that there are other factors that lead to people getting sick, such as stress (2012). In Ungar’s article “Poor have a higher rate of illness in rural Kentucky, problem pervasive,” it claims that poverty is the principal reason why Kentucky is one of America’s sickest states (2005). The lower income class in the society is struggling with social factors; the less money you have, the more likely you will get sick. Therefore, in order to live a healthy life and live longer, a person needs to live in a healthy environment.
Individuals tend to interact with the environment continuously. These interactions tend to affect their lives quality, health disparities and years of a healthy life they have lived. Environment, as defined by the World Health Organization, is the entire chemical, biological and physical factors that are external to an individual, including their behavior. Environmental health, on the other hand, tends to consist of controlling and preventing disease, disabilities and also injuries. These ailments tend to occur as the people interact with their environment. The factors that affect human health in the environment are classified into six categories. These categories include outdoor air quality, hazardous waste and toxic substances, communities and homes, global environmental health, ground and surface water quality and finally surveillance and infrastructure (Rand, 2005). The creation of environments that promote health can prove to be a difficult task. It tends to rely on frequent research so as to comprehend fully the effects of the exposure of environmental hazards to individual’s health.
Air quality that is poor tends to be related to cancer, long term damage to cardiovascular and respiratory systems. However, some progress has been made to assist reduce these unhealthy emissions. It is evident that, in the year 2008, most individuals in the United States lived in countries that tended to exceed the national air quality standards. Ground water and surface water tends to include both recreation and drinking water. The contamination of this water by harmful chemicals or agents tends to cause illnesses and diseases. Hazardous waste and toxic substances also cause diseases. Individuals tend to dump these wastes in water sources and also where people live leading to illnesses and even death. Individuals also tend to spend most of their days at work, school and home. These environments expose them to inadequate sanitation and heating, indoor air pollution, lead paint hazards and last but not least fire and electrical hazards.
The maintenance of an environment that is healthy is vital to increasing the years and quality of healthy lives. It is a fact that almost twenty five percent of the mortality rate and disease burden is an attribute of environmental factors. Poor environment quality tends to have a greater impact on vulnerable individuals mostly the poor. This is the key reason why environmental health ought to address the environmental and societal factors that are responsible for increasing the chances of diseases and exposure.
What then can be done to help reduce mortality and diseases? The health of the environment tends to be one evolving and dynamic field. There is the need to be prepared for environmental impact disaster. This means that individuals should plan for their health needs and be prepared for the impact on infrastructure, for example, water. Though nanotechnology can bring about health risks and environmental changes, it is also productive, in the sense that it tends to offer improvements. These improvements include, clean energy, the prevention, treatment and detection of diseases and last but not least environmental risk assessment (Weil, 2007). The characteristics of the built environment tend to have impacts on individuals health as it influences the physical activity patterns, behaviors, access to resources and social networks. This is where we find the likes of smokers, poor nutrition and racists. This can be solved through the creation of awareness and education. The individuals can be rehabilitated and made to understand the benefit of a clean environment and healthy practices. The exposure to various unknown hazards is also a main cause of poor health. Studies tend to prove that hundreds of chemicals tend to be presented into the U.S. market (Kissinger, 2000). The chemicals are assumed to within time bestow new challenges to the individuals’ health. For there to be regulation, their safety must be guaranteed before their release to the public. The issues experienced tend not to be fully understood and, therefore, cannot call for the implementation of a measuring and tracking system for their impacts. In this case, extensive exploration and research tends to be required. This is due to the tendency of the environment health landscape to constantly evolve and pose various opportunities for more analysis, monitoring and research. Blood lead level tends to be another factor to poor health. However, the number of children with high blood lead level tends to have decreased in the United States. The determination of the stable estimates of national prevalence, and the estimated prevalence changes over time tend to be challenging, with the use of NHANES. It is a vital goal in public health to eliminate blood lead levels that tend to be elevated. There tend to be efforts that will and must constantly reduce the blood lead levels. They should also monitor the occurrence of children with high blood lead levels. This is because sample sizes obtained using the current structured NHANES, tend to be very small, and cannot produce reliable estimates, statistically, and thus prevent the ability to set a practical target (Farley, 2003).
Public health tends to play a vital role in the address of how poverty affects the status of health and, therefore, end up reducing differences in health and income. There tends to be initiatives, geared towards the protection of individuals’ health, through the reduction of communicable diseases and the provision of health services, on prevention, to the low income individuals. Examples of public health services that affect the health of individuals living in poverty may include treating and control of TB, battling the sexually transmitted diseases, improving sanitation and providing immunizations. Others may include provision of baby care and reduction of the environmental hazards.
A vital factor in public health is the linking of health and poverty. Through studies, it tends to be confirmed that individuals with low incomes tend to have a lower status in health as compared to those individuals with higher incomes. The Department of Health, in the United States, and Human services, tended to outline the many differences in the status, in health, by income and acknowledged a step by step pattern of the worsening results, from wealthy to poor individuals, which held some weight in all factors. These factors include causes of death, diseases and endurance with ethnic and racial groups.
It was discovered that the poor Americans tended to be seen with health risk factors like, being overweight, having an inactive lifestyle and smoking as compared to the individuals who had high incomes. The rich folk also tend to use lesser health care than the poor. They also tend to have had a latest physician contact, have an office based care, and receive preventive care, for example, cancer screening or immunization. They also tend to avoid hospitalization through receiving of preventives (Farley, 2003). The poorer individuals, on the other hand, tend to have a higher occurrence of chronic illness, disability and a shorter life expectance when compared to the wealthy individuals.
Statistically, and internationally the bond between health and income tends to be striking. In the poor countries, up to twenty percent of children tend to die before they get to age five, while, in the wealthier countries, it is only a mere one percent. Fifty percent of the children tend to be malnourished in the poor countries while less than five percent are malnourished in the wealthy countries. The rate of maternal mortality tends to be higher in the poor countries. The most enlightening aspect or indicator of the status of health is the life expectancy, which tends to be sixteen years lesser in men, and twenty years lesser in women, in the poor nations, as compared to the wealthier ones.
Social class, gender and race are all social factors that lead to poor health and are essential predictors. Both Dubos (1959:8) and Mckeown (1971:8) claim that social factors are a main role in a person’s health and the decline of the mortality rate. I agree with both of them that having clean houses, nutriti...