Contemporary Debates on Health Disparities in the UK

This report covers contemporary debates on concerns of health disparities across UK and the specific actions taken by government in order to addressing these such concerns. It discusses the various factors that can create health disparities such as discrimination, gender inequalities, socioeconomic gaps that can contribute towards differences in well-being outcomes within both communities and across UK.

Contemporary Debates

Table of Content.
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY.......................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION
The concept of health and social care generally involve a care treatment of
disease health as well as a medical conditions in healthcare organizations, welfare
centres and across community. While talking about social care, it is generally a care or
support provided to vulnerable people in a community, across country. Its concept
significantly include a person's control, physical, capacity as well as psychological
components to being well. The report will cover contemporary debates on concerns of
health disparities across UK and the specific actions taken by government in order to
addressing these such concerns. While talking about health inequalities across United
Kingdom, there are various issues that are affecting life of people in UK such as life
expectancy, prevalence of communicable illness such as infection caused by viruses
like COVID and so on, prevalence of non-communicable illness such as cardiovascular
illness, diabetes, cancer and many more. In this, there are also some other factors that
can create health disparities such as discrimination, gender inequalities, socio-
economic gaps that can contribute towards differences in well-being outcomes within
both communities and across UK. In order to reduce influence, there are some of
measures that are significantly taken by government to the population so that
prevalence of specific causes can be overcome effectively (What are health
inequalities?, 2020).
MAIN BODY
Health disparities are generally about having reduced status of particular
people's well-being. These are generally an avoidable as well as an unfair disparities in
well-being status among group of people or the communities. In this, well-being
disparities are generally the systematic differences in opportunities groups specifically
have to attain an optimal well-being, leading to an unfair as well as an avoidable
varieties in results of health (Pachankis and Bränström, 2018). The dimension of social
identity as well as location which can structure the differential access towards various
opportunities for well-being including gender, race, employment, ethnicity and socio-
economic status and many more. In addition, there are also structural disparities are
generally interpersonal, personal and social as well such as sexism, racism, classism
and many more. It can make such identities salient to fair distribution of well-being
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opportunities and an outcome as well. While talking about regulations, policies
specifically foster the disparities at every level such as from organization to across
globe are significantly an important components of the structural disparities. The
environmental, social, cultural and economic determinants of well-being generally are
pathway through which the structural disparities can produce health disparities among
people and across country or globe (The Root Causes of Health Inequity, 2017).
Furthermore, these are the various factors determinants of well-being are generally the
conditions in which an poor individual can live, consisting not having access towards
good food or water, housing, lack of education, workplace discrimination as well as
various social relations and many more (Stewart-Brown, 2018).
The argument here include as people who are having low income generally tends
to have more health disparities as compared with high income people. It is because, low
economic level people does not able to receive care services and they also does not
able to acquire enough education that can help them to live their life healthier. Having
enough education or knowledge can effectively help people to increase their well-being
and live a quality of life. While talking about government, they also play a key role in
reducing the health disparities among population. government have started conducting
programs or campaigns to educate people who are not able to afford and provide them
enough services so that they can improve their well-being (Evans and Erickson, 2019).
According to the view point of World Health Organization, the low class families or
people can effectively receive all well-being services or needs which they require
without suffering from their financial stability. This is known as universal health
coverage. In this, the health services can include quailty well-bieng services from its
promotion to prevention, treatment as well as pallative care across life course (Universal
health coverage, 2021). In some places, the government has implanted free services or
equipments such as exercise equipments in every local region so that all females and
males who generally cannot afford to go high paid gyms in order to stay fit. Lower class
people can easily accessible the equipments which are implanted by governements so
that they can also utilize such things to maintain thier well-being. In addition, it is not
important that every people can follow all the guidelines issued by governement and
hence causing more health issues (Guglielmin et. al., 2018).
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The argument present here is that there are various main health inequalities
among population across UK such as increasing rates of smoking, excessive alcohol
intake, reduced healthy diet, lack of physical activities and many more. It is identified
that people nowadays are having increased rates of illnesses such as obesity and many
other illness associated with it. It is only due to that people are having or does not
acquire a healthy diet and in results are having increased body weights and deposition
of fat inside body. This increase in number of fat can effectively causes health
disparities among people (Priest and Williams, 2018). On the other hand, there is lack of
physical activity among young adults and older adults and this can also lead to develop
risk of various illnesses such as obesity, cardiovascular illness, diabetes and many
more. Which can only be overcome by having increased phyiscal activity so that people
can stay fit as well as can live thier quality life. In context with UK government, there are
various steps taken by them in order to reduce disparities among population such as
they have conducted programs like Public Health England to reduce cardiovascular
illness. In addition, there are teh social determinants of well-being governance appraisal
is generally a service mainly offered by the World Health Organization, specifically via
its centre of excellence in venice. In this, services particularly allows the member of
states to undertake a strategic review of thier governance capacity to better address the
social determinants of well-being as well as can decrease the well-being disparities
(Ezzati et. al., 2018).
Another argument here include while having health disparities such as gender
inequalities such as addressing the gender disparities both outside and within a
healthcare organization is mainly determined as a condition for attaining well-beng
equity. In this, the World Health Organization specifically promotes use of sex-
disaggregated information as well as an incorporation of gender analysis and particular
actions among all policies. It is generally an approach that is being encouraged by
member states and World Health Organization via World Health Assembly resolution
60.25. The particular approach is also in line with various other developmental aims or
goals such as number 3 on the gender equality (Salway et. al., 2019). In this, healthcare
sectors in various other countries with region generally does not recognize that gender
is particularly a social determinant which mainly influence health of both male and
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female which is still observed by several as a issue among females. Furthermore, in
europe, most of the policies are still a gender blind such as they do not effectively mirror
various other requirements of both male and female respectively (Promoting health and
reducing health inequities by addressing the social determinants of health, 2009).
There are the main health gaps in the prevalence of illness, well-being outcomes
or access towards care sector across various groups. Yet, United Kingdom generally
does not follow this trend. It was analysed that women involve the largest well-being
gaps among G20 and is generally at 12th largest across globe. In this, it is identified
through various studies that in several areas of well-being care in which female can
experience the reduced outcomes. For example, in year 2016, it is identified that the
females who are sufferning from dementia generally recieves worse care treatment in
comparison with male with conditions (Gill et. al., 2018). It is determined that females
visits least in number to the General Practitioner, recieve reduced monitoring of well-
being as well as can take more harmful medicines as compared with males. In addition
to this, females had to wait for more longer to take painkillers when they actually were
prescribed. All these can depict that females generally suffered more harm due to
reduced availing of healthcare services in order to cure well-being or living healthy life.
In addition, females are more likely to experience the common mental well-being
conditions as compared with males (Timmis et. al., 2018). In this, the mental health
foundation has said that various socio-economic factors can effectively put the females
at an elevated risks of reduced mental well-being than in males. Therefore, there are
the factors which can protect the helath of females, consisting tendency for females to
involve high social networks as well as that many females can find it quite easier to talk
more about their emotions and feelings as well (Women’s health outcomes: Is there a
gender gap?, 2021). In this, gender can specifically affects the well-being disparities like
in context with morbidity and mortality, various well-being problems that are more
commonly linked with one of the gender such as the issues like depression, dementia or
arthritis are more prone towards females whereas, the males are more likely associated
with cardiovascular illness, lung cancer and many more. In addition, bias in gender can
create harm in care treatment. It is when both male nad females are not offered equal
care treatment as well as the care services for the similiar medical complaints as well as
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when various manifestations of illness are not being considered that is based on sex,
people can expect thier well-being outcomes can suffer. It is quite common in some of
the regions across UK (Merlo, J., 2018).
CONCLUSION
From the above conclusion, it is concluded that health disparities can be caused
in every country across world. In this, having reduced well-being is cannot be illustrated
by itself. It is much more complex generally include various circumstances in which
people can live such as reduced socio-economic stability, poor well-being, lack of
physical activity, low income, absence of availing care services, lack of adequate
education or knowledge and many more. These all factors can equally contribute
towards people to have health inequalities among population. In this, it is effectively
identified that having gender inequality, discrimination can equally responsible for the
absence of healthy living and causes the various illness. Likelihood of positive well-
being are generally not distributed equally within community and across world and this
can effectively cause the well-being disparities. From the above discussion, it is also
concluded that there are social determinants of well-being which specifically inequities
in well-being and played a role by their social determinants are generally present and
across countries in the WHO region. In order to overcome such health inequalities
among population, the government also play a key role in this. They effectively provide
enough knowledge to people who are generally belongs to low income family so that
they can also have knowledge and can able to improve their well-being to reduce
disparities.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Evans, C.R. and Erickson, N., 2019. Intersectionality and depression in adolescence
and early adulthood: a MAIHDA analysis of the national longitudinal study of
adolescent to adult health, 1995–2008. Social Science & Medicine, 220, pp.1-
11.
Ezzati, M. and et. al., 2018. Acting on non-communicable diseases in low-and middle-
income tropical countries. Nature, 559(7715), pp.507-516.
Gill, P.S. and et. al., 2018. Black and minority ethnic groups. In Health care needs
assessment (pp. 227-400). CRC Press.
Guglielmin, M. and et. al., 2018. A scoping review of the implementation of health in all
policies at the local level. Health policy, 122(3), pp.284-292.
Merlo, J., 2018. Multilevel analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory
accuracy (MAIHDA) within an intersectional framework. Social Science &
Medicine, 203, pp.74-80.
Pachankis, J.E. and Bränström, R., 2018. Hidden from happiness: Structural stigma,
sexual orientation concealment, and life satisfaction across 28
countries. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 86(5), p.403.
Priest, N. and Williams, D.R., 2018. Racial discrimination and racial disparities in health.
Salway, T. and et. al., 2019. A systematic review and meta-analysis of disparities in the
prevalence of suicide ideation and attempt among bisexual
populations. Archives of sexual behavior, 48(1), pp.89-111.
Schwenger, E. and et. al., 2018. Harnessing meta‐analysis to refine an oncology patient
population for physiology‐based pharmacokinetic modeling of drugs. Clinical
Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 103(2), pp.271-280.
Stewart-Brown, S., 2018. Public health implications of childhood behaviour problems
and parenting programmes. In Parenting, schooling and children's
behaviour (pp. 21-33). Routledge.
Timmis, A. and et. al., 2018. European Society of Cardiology: cardiovascular disease
statistics 2021. European heart journal.
Yin, C. and et. al., 2018. Inequality of public health and its role in spatial accessibility to
medical facilities in China. Applied Geography, 92, pp.50-62.
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Online:
What are health inequalities?, 2020 [Online] Available through:
<https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/what-are-health-inequalities>
The Root Causes of Health Inequity, 2017 [Online] Available through:
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425845/>
Universal health coverage, 2021 [Online] Available through: <https://www.who.int/news-
room/fact-sheets/detail/universal-health-coverage-(uhc)>
Promoting health and reducing health inequities by addressing the social determinants
of health, 2009 [Online] Available through:
<https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/141226/Brochure_promoting_he
alth.pdf>
Women’s health outcomes: Is there a gender gap?, 2021 [Online] Available through:
<https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/womens-health-outcomes-is-there-a-gender-gap/>
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