Social inequalities refer to the differences in distribution of economic assets as well as the quality of people’s living conditions in a society. It refers to an instance where insufficient funds may hinder someone from getting proper housing, health services, and other basic needs; while those who have more than adequate funds get the best there is. Social inequality is linked to race, gender, and wealth inequality. There is a high degree of social inequalities in the United States. Health in the United States is mostly patterned along socio-economic and ethnic lines, such as the people of the higher social class have health advantages while the socially disadvantaged people have worse health (Braveman et al., 2010). Health disparity is a universal issue, and it does not only manifest itself in the United States but also worldwide, in both developed and developing countries. Various determinants of health disparity exist. Some of these determinants include the wage of different people, distribution of health facilities which hinder some people from easily accessing these facilities, early child development, and the living environment around people. However, there are various policies put in place to address these social inequalities. All countries have their policies that address the gap in wealth in the society.
Current Policies in Place to Reduce Health Disparities
Improving access to fair employment and decent work is one of the policies put across by the United States to reduce health disparities. The United States has policies for improving the private infrastructure and investments, which open more employment opportunities so that people can have enough capital to attend to their medical needs. They also advocate for active labor market programs which provide vocational training and help to start small businesses to increase people’s income. Policies to improve working conditions and an elevated minimum wage also increase the income of common citizens. With policies to increase the wage for poor people, their income increases and thus they can also afford to access better health care. The United States government has been quite successful in increasing minimum wage for employees. The small business community is also rising, and therefore this policy has been considerably successful. Some other countries like France also have such policies of increasing wages and income for the low-income communities. However, most developing countries, especially African countries, have less success in implementing policies like increased wages due to their economic state. These countries, therefore, have policies like access to free health care. They have public hospitals that are freely accessible to everyone. The African countries still experience the massive disparities in health because these public hospitals are not evenly distributed, and therefore cannot be accessed easily by individuals who are poor.
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Another policy put forward by the United States government is improving the living environment of citizens. The government has put policies of enforcing standard housing conditions, upgrading homes in poorer areas, increasing housing affordability, and improved urban planning for cleaner, healthier and energy-efficient transport and housing which have beneficial effects on health (Braveman et al., 2010). Studies have shown that healthy and clean environments reduce the risk of diseases and therefore improving health (Brenton & Gadhoke, 2017). This policy, too, has had a considerable amount of success in the United States. Homes in poorer areas have been upgraded to better living conditions and hence are less susceptible to diseases as compared to before. Urban planning has been successful in most urban areas and therefore less exposure to diseases, and thus improved health for everyone. Most African countries also have policies to improve living conditions in slums, and increasing affordability of houses to allow poor people to manage better standards of living. Their policies involve the provision of clean water and better sanitation to the slums.
The United States government has put across improving early child development as a policy to reduce health disparities. The government has implemented policies of more parental involvement in a child’s life; thus, the parents teach children healthy living and take care of them. Parental involvement and social protection policies also protect the child from poverty, and thus better health conditions (Mayosi et al., 2012). The government has also encouraged policies that promote gender equality in education and employment to reduce levels of poverty among single parents. The laws of parent involvement in a child’s life have been successful in the United States as social protection policies ensure absent parents can pay child support that allows for the care of their children, hence improving their health. Improved early child development has led to children growing resilient to diseases and hence better health even as they grow up (Adler, & Cutler, 2016). In other countries, policies of child care have also been implemented. In places like India, until recently, successful policies of parents not giving birth to more than two children were pursued. However, policies of better early child development have not been implemented successfully in African countries.
Limitations of Current Policies
Although convenient, there are limitations to the policies aimed at reducing health disparites. The policy of improving access to fair employment and decent work has faced challenges. Not everyone can be provided the same opportunity of employment due to variation in academic levels. In African countries, the policy of free access to health facilities has faced various challenges. The free public hospitals are not centrally located and are sparse. Poor people still have to walk long distances to access medical facilities. They face challenges of transporting a sick person, and sometimes end up dying before accessing the facilities.
Improving the living environment of citizens has posed challenges as sometimes it is people to choose how to live within their environment. Even with improved housing conditions in poorer areas, there is still the problem of sanitation and waste disposal in these areas. Improving slums have proven to be quite difficult in African countries due to low economic state. People still live in unsanitary areas, and therefore get more exposed to diseases. Garbage disposal in slums is a major problem, and open sewers are running everywhere, contaminating even clean waters. The improper sanitation increases their chances of contracting diseases. Due to their low income, they can barely afford better treatment (Bleich et al., 2012). Rich neighborhoods border the poor ones, and these two communities still get very different access to health facilities. Hence, the disparity continues.
Improvement of early child development has its limitations too. Social protection policies have increased absence of some parents in their children’s lives, and this affects the mental stability of these children. Parent education also has contributed to absenteeism of parents in children’s lives, which affects their emotional and mental health-unlike children whose parents are ever present-and hence they grow with parental love and emotional support. The early childcare in African countries is still difficult in the slums due to the wanting poverty levels. Children grow in a hostile environment, and there is very little that is done to change the condition. The types of food the children eat are also sometimes unhealthy, as opposed to those of high social class. Children growing up in poorer areas have less improved early childhood development, and therefore they grow up susceptible to diseases. It has, therefore, been difficult to address health disparity in the African countries
Proposed New Policies to Reduce Health Disparities
There are policies that if implemented, may reduce health disparities due to financial constraints. For instance, eating of traditional food projects should be introduced as a policy. Traditional foods have more health benefits than the processed foods people eat today. Furthermore, traditional foods can be easily accessed at local markets near us, and they are healthy (Thomson, Mitchell, Williams, & National Research Council, 2006). People can even decide to plant traditional vegetables in their homes to promote healthy living. Healthy eating increases the immunity of people. Hence, those living in poorer areas will have developed immunity and less expenditure and visits to health facilities. Equal distribution of health facilities among poorer neighborhoods will also reduce the amount of capital used in transport, hence more money to receive better healthcare. Hospitals near poorer neighborhoods will ensure reduced health disparities.
Conclusion
Social inequalities occur in different modes, and people face them in their day-to-day lives because of the inequitable distribution of economic assets. Health disparities due to inequitable wealth distributions is one of the social disparities faced in the world today. Health is a very sensitive issue, and therefore there are policies implemented to reduce this disparity. Some of the policies commonly put across include improved early child development, improved living environment, and improved employment opportunities especially for those who are socially disadvantaged. These policies, however, have had their shortcomings in reducing disparity in health care. It is impossible to provide equitable healthcare because there will always be a disparity in wealth. The policies, however, try to ensure that the disparity is minimized.
References
Braveman, P. A., Cubbin, C., Egerter, S., Williams, D. R., & Pamuk, E. (2010). Socioeconomic disparities in health in the United States: what the patterns tell us. American journal of public health , 100 (S1), S186-S196.
Bleich, S. N., Jarlenski, M. P., Bell, C. N., & LaVeist, T. A. (2012). Health inequalities: trends, progress, and policy. Annual review of public health , 33 , 7-40.
Mayosi, B. M., Lawn, J. E., Van Niekerk, A., Bradshaw, D., Karim, S. S. A., Coovadia, H. M., & Lancet South Africa team. (2012). Health in South Africa: changes and challenges since 2009. The Lancet , 380 (9858), 2029-2043.
Adler, N., & Cutler, D., (2016). Addressing Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities.
Thomson, G. E., Mitchell, F., Williams, M., & National Research Council (U.S.). (2006). Examining the Health Disparities Research Plan of the National Institutes of Health : Unfinished Business . Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Retrieved from http://proxygsudekt.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=168375&site=eds-live&scope=site
Brenton Barrett P., & Gadhoke Preety. (2017). Food Insecurity and Health Disparity Synergisms: Reframing a Praxis of Anthropology and Public Health for Displaced Populations in the United States. Responses to Disasters and Climate Change . Retrieved from http://proxygsudekt.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edscrc&AN=edscrc.23698270&site=eds-live&scope=site
