The injustice of health disparities in the world.

Health disparities connected to socio-economic status occur all over the world. In the U.S., African Americans suffer especially from appalling infant mortality rates that are twice as high as European Americans. Likewise deaths from heart disease are 40% higher among African Americans compared to descendants of Europeans. Life expectancy is the most salient statistic that reflects relative health, and there is a difference of 35 years between some ethnic groups in the U.S. Nearly one in two people in the U.S will suffer from a major mental disorder in their lifetimes, and millions of sufferers do not receive any care whatsoever, and this appalling situation exist in the richest country in the world. While mental illness strikes people in all social classes the poor are disproportionately represented. At any time about one in six people living at or below the poverty line in the U.S. suffer from severe mental health problem. From an economic pint of view inadequate mental health care cost billions of dollars to the U.S economy each year (Murray C., Kulkarni S., Michaud C., Tomijima N., Bulzacchelli M., et al., 2006; Editors, 2012).

It is not difficult to understand that people living in poverty within a country are more depressed as compared to people with more wealth and social standing (Pratt & Brody, 2008). Parallel socioeconomic disparity occurs also between poor and wealthy countries. In rich countries the well off have access to the latest in health care that is too costly to acquire for poor countries. For people who believe that good health and effective health care is a basic human right the socioeconomic disparity that drives health outcomes within and between countries appear a grand injustice. While the effect of socioeconomic disparity on health is supported by available statistics there are notable differences. Cuba, a relative economically poor country, has poured a major portion of their meager resources into health care and education making both accessible to all citizens. A major result is a lower birth death rate in Cuba compared to the U.S., a much richer neighbor, and Cuban doctors serve all over the world in poor countries trying to bridge the disparity caused by poverty like for example in Haiti and Venezuela.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 893