Introduction
Health inequalities refer to the variation of the health status among the members of society. The conditions the people live in have a vital role in determining their natural health. Age is one of the essential determinants of the differences in the health situation of the members of society. Generally, younger individuals are healthier in many communities than the aged because younger individuals have a more robust immune system than the elderly. The environment a person lives in has a significant influence on determining his well-being. A population that lives in an environment with limited access to health facilities will have poor health compared to health resources close to its members. The nature of the occupation a person works may also play a role in influencing how healthy an individual is. Working in unhygienic areas predisposes the personnel to infections, thus worsening his health. A greater health inequality exists in third-world countries and is mainly due to the poor socioeconomic status of the nation.
Poverty in some third-world countries plays a significant role in determining the health inequalities that people face. The individuals work in poor conditions and have low salaries. These working environments may have poor hygiene, inadequate spacing, and a lack of resources that make the employer perform his work efficiently. Poor hygiene in the workplace predisposes the workers to diseases like bilharzia, salmonellosis, cholera, and other waterborne diseases. The low payment makes these persons not able to afford the essential drugs necessary for their treatment. These low economic standards worsen the population’s health status compared to the industrialized countries where the individuals receive a better salary and have a good working environment. These poor living standards in third world nations increase the psychological stress among the population as they are worried about their health or succumb to acquired infections.
The bad governance and corruption experienced in many third-world countries worsen health inequalities. It makes it harder for citizens to have good access to health resources. Some leaders embezzle funds meant to construct hospitals and other treatment facilities, purchase drugs, and even pay health practitioners. Instead of treating the patients, health workers may opt to go on strikes to find a solution to the payment. The rulers may also fail to initiate and support the health policies meant to promote the people’s health. These rulers may even embezzle funds from international foreign aid bodies like the World Health Organization and First Aid. It makes it harder for third-world countries to have equal access to health resources as in developed countries.
Dietary Choice and the Role of Education in Chronic Disease Prevention
Various social and cultural factors determine what an individual feeds on in their daily life. These factors that determine people’s diet include family, peers, culture, and socioeconomic status. Higher social and economic status makes it possible to afford some kinds of food unavailable to the poor public. Some cultures have prohibited the consumption of certain foods by their members, thus making it hard for a person to eat such foods. Peers may influence an individual into choosing a particular brand or nature of food. Parents provide food for their children, which shows the role a family can play in determining children’s diet. Many individuals eat together with their families and friends as compared to when they eat alone. Religion may affect a person’s dietary habits, such as Muslims are not allowed to consume pork. The Hindus avoid foods they believe tend to hinder their spiritual growth. Some religions, such as Muslims and Christianity, prohibit alcoholic beverages, thus affecting societies’ choices.
Proper education among the population plays a vital role in preventing chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, renal failure, and cardiovascular diseases. Good diet education helps a person know the right food to consume, thus reducing the cases of obesity. Obesity is directly correlated to increasing the chance of developing heart diseases such as hypertension and myocardial infarction and even endocrine malfunctions like reduced insulin sensitivity that lead to diabetes. It can also reduce cancer onset as the public is educated to avoid all meals with carcinogens that induce mutations within cells, promoting carcinogenesis. They are also sensitized to avoid eating foods that are likely to predispose them to kidney failure. They are also educated on proper sugar consumption, vital in preventing diabetes mellitus and renal failure.
A good education helps in promoting the prevention of the onset of chronic diseases. It is easier for health practitioners to deal with an educated society by sensitizing them on the drugs they can take or avoid regarding severe illnesses. It helps in the effective prevention and treatment of these chronic diseases, thus reducing the disease burden experienced in a nation. Both the family, school, and government have a role to play in determining the diet of its population. Family plays a significant role in deciding what its members consume. They form the first line that can either encourage each other on the healthy foods they can consume. The school offers the second choice in ensuring that students learn healthy habits through the curriculum. The government plays a role in ensuring the formulation and implementation of beneficial health practices among its population. It determines which healthy foods they can import or process for their population.
Health Promotion and the Role It Plays
Health promotion practices entail enabling people to have more regulation over their health to improve their well-being. It involves informing a person what they can do so that they stay healthy. In this practice, things that influence health are brought to attention to initiate programs to improve status. Activities in public health programs are focused on preventing diseases in the whole population rather than just focusing on the person at risk. The entire population is actively involved in controlling the diseases. These health promotion activities have proven to be effective in changing the lifestyle of society. It requires the creation of a supportive environment to ensure the success of these programs. The main goal of this program is to engage and empower the population to choose healthy norms and thus reduce the risk of developing severe diseases.
The health promotion methods focus on addressing the social determinants of health. These include cultural, social, political, and economic conditions in which the people are born and live. Raising awareness among the whole population on how to live a healthful life is encouraged. A discussion of both the initial and secondary methods of disease prevention is emphasized. Primary methods of disease control include vaccination, nutritional change, and hygiene practices, while secondary disease prevention provides drugs and screening programs. The individuals are empowered by knowledge so that they can change their behavior and adopt a healthy lifestyle. It can be done through well-being education courses and even by forming community-based support groups. The governments are also encouraged to review the laws, policies, and regulations on health. The unfavorable policies that hinder health promotion are scrapped away. Good governance plays a significant role in ensuring the success of these health promotion programs.
The primary outcome of health promotion is behavior change among the people which leads to the adoption of both the primary and secondary ways of disease prevention. Behavior change makes the government save the government and the persons substantial financial burden used to treat preventable diseases. Improved quality of life among the inhabitants is observed as the conditions are prevented before their onset. The mental health of the individual improves as they do not suffer the worry of getting chronic illnesses. The cases of premature deaths significantly reduced due to the adoption of healthy living practices.
Disease Prevention Helps Saving Treatment Costs
Preventive strategies for diseases include the practices done to intervene before an illness occurs, primary prevention, or detection and treatment of a condition in the early stages, and secondary prevention. In many nations, incurable disease treatment consumes a vast amount of the budget set for the health sector. The loss of lives through these life-threatening chronic conditions massively leads to death and thus a reduction in the gross domestic product. The death cases associated with these illnesses will reduce, saving the country’s labor force. Prevention strategies combined with lifestyle change actions will significantly reduce the instances of chronic diseases.
Prevention interventions lead to a reduction in the cost of purchasing drugs. The prophylactic medications administered during the secondary prevention methods may be relatively cheaper than those issued to treat the chronic form of illness. Adopting immediate intervention methods may even save the individual from being the secondary prophylactic drugs or the drugs to treat the severe form of the disease. The chemotherapy drugs used in cancer treatment may be costly and unaffordable to some people. Adopting early prevention and control practices by the individual reduces the predisposition to cancer, thus saving the nation and humanity the treatment cost. It is not even sure that the severe disease will heal using the drugs; therefore, the individual may die even if treated, leading to a financial loss. Taking an early caution saves both the lives and finances that a nation and people are subjected to.
These chronic illnesses may also compel the nation to buy expensive medical equipment to help with cancer and hypertension treatment. The finance used to buy this medical equipment could be diverted to other sectors of the economy like education and transport if earlier prevention measures were undertaken. The purchase of this equipment can also put nations, especially developing countries, under financial constraint. Cancer therapy is one of the most costly treatments and is not affordable to every person. It may compel the relatives of the patient even to sell their property in search of good health. Treatment of hypertension may require cardiac transplantation, which may not be affordable to everyone. Adoption of early behavior change and health practices saves these individuals the cost of management of the conditions. Increasing the adoption of preventive practices requires education and government support in facilitating preventive programs. These preventive measures even save the insurance companies, employers, and communities money they incur when an individual falls sick. Many life-threatening diseases are curable by the actions undertaken to prevent their onset.