Consequences of Socio-Economic Inequality in Canada and Ways It Has Been Dealt With (Term Paper Sample)

Consequences of Socio-Economic Inequality in Canada and Ways It Has Been Dealt With
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Consequences of Socio-Economic Inequality in Canada and Ways It Has Been Dealt With
The socioeconomic inequality in Canada is at its apex. The Conference Board of Canada (2018) acknowledges this fact and infers that in the last twenty years, the gap between poor and the affluent has widened as evidenced by the Gini index scores. In the 1980s, Canada’s Gini index was 0.28 compared to the current average index of 0.32. As such, conversations about socioeconomic inequality in Canada and ways to deal with it have increasingly become the word of every tongue. Health is one of the areas wherein one can study the repercussions of socioeconomic inequality in Canada and some of the possible ways it has been dealt with. Inequality in relation to health and its outcomes or access to health services among disadvantaged or vulnerable population has a direct economic impact of billions of dollars on the healthcare costs. Therefore, addressing social and economic determinants to health through activity-based interventions is one of the most publicly supported actions against socioeconomic inequality in Canada. Nevertheless socioeconomic inequality leads to health disparities owing to differences in education, housing, employment level, and social status, it has been addressed through education-based interventions, financial support interventions, nutrition-based interventions, and housing interventions.
Consequences of Socio-Economic Inequality in Canada
There is an uneven distribution of health among people of lower education or occupational skill levels in comparison to those with higher education and exuberant occupational skills. The level of education is a social factor that has been linked to health disparities. Education has been associated with factors such as awareness or level of income, which influence one’s ability to make informed decisions about their health, or afford quality healthcare services. Oshio (2018) conducted a study on the widening disparities in health among persons of different educational levels. The researcher found that education is a key determinant of health, especially later in life. According to his findings, lower-educated men and women were more prone to experience greater functional limitations, psychological distress, and lesser ability to care for their health compared to those who were well-educated. Oshio (2018) identified that social and income factors, namely household expenditure, social interactions, recreational facilities, regular check-ups, smoking, and drinking problems influenced health outcomes such as functional limitations, stress, and self-rated health. However, the researcher noted that the effect of each moderating factor was either magnified or minimized by socio-institutional factors, thereby cautioning against generalization.
The education attainment levels in Canada vary among the various ethnicities, something that has had a vital impact on the socioeconomic inequality in health. There is a casual relationship between education and health, and most studies show a direct positive relationship between the two variables. Among the indigenous people, more than half of the population has attained a post-secondary level of education. The population of aboriginal people who attained a college diploma rose from 18.7% to 23% between 2006 and 2016 (Statistics Canada, 2017). Collectively, the health status of the indigenous people has also improved in the same period. According to Kolahdooz, Nader, and Sharma (2015), the health inequality gap between the aboriginal and other ethnicities has been gradually minimizing; however, there is a need to continue the promotion of health equity among the population.