Health Disparities Improving the health of the socially and economically disadvantaged is a major task. Many Americans are living with poor health because of their socioeconomic statuses and it has many negative effects on their long term health. Improving access to health care is not enough to help fix the lower death rates among low income families. Our social status in our economy has large effect on our lives including how we are able to live our lives and in tern it has large measurable effects on our health.
San Antonio is no exception, in low income areas the mortality rates by diabetes are tunning and need to be changed in order to help improve the lives of so many people. In my essay I will be proposing a plan to help lower diabetes mortality rates and I will focus on the San Antonio zip code of 78202. San Antonio is effect by the social determinants of health every day. In areas of low income people the mortality rates by diabetes are much higher than those of high income. For example area code 78202 the median house hold income is $22,584 with 40. % of individuals falling below the poverty level with the rate of mortality ver 152 per 100,000 people. The same rate is seen in area code 78237 the median household income is $22,703 with 36. 4% of individuals living in the area that fall below the poverty level. In the opposite side of the spectrum the areas with the mortality rate less than 112 per 100,000 individuals are generally found in higher income areas. One area that fits this description is area code 78209 with a median income per house hold of $62,294 and only 1 1. % individuals who fall below the poverty line. This shows a clear correlation between household income and higher eath rates due to illness and poor health. Studies show that there are social determinants that the poor have to deal with have a cascade effect on a person’s life which will affect the overall health of the individual. In the article titled Social Status Has a Measurable Effect on Health stated, “People with higher incomes and education levels tend to have more control and be less subject to shocks and setbacks than those with fewer resources.
Also people with more resources are able to participate in social activities. ” When a person has o control over his or her life that tends to create a constant stressful situation for individuals, when one has the money to deal with life obstacles less stress is felt and they are able to enjoy life more. The same goes for extracurricular activities, they seen to have good effects on a person’s health but when it is unattainable because of money and time health will further decrease.
The lower the income the less control over where a person will live and they might be forced to live in unsafe environments with poor quality housing. Many families cannot afford to feed their family nutritious oods which don’t allow children to start their lives with healthy bodies. Chronic stress that many low income individuals have to deal with can lower their immune system which in turn makes individuals more susceptible to illness and disease.
When individuals become sick it again creates the cycle of more stress on the family, the loss of Jobs, and they are often again in a place of no control. As mayor of San eliminate the major social determinants that often begin the cycle of poor health. First and fore most awareness needs to be the first step taken. Community meetings hat help make health topics known and that help teach cheap healthy lifestyles can have good effects. When community meeting are fun for families it can help make it easier to get a community to participate.
Communities need to be informed of the problem and it needs to show that it is a major problem in low income communities. Monthly community meeting can be held in which solutions can be proposed for example the meeting can be over cheap healthy alternative foods, easy workout plans can be taught to the community. During the monthly meetings healthy food will be ffered which was donated by private restaurant owners who are informed of the growing problem and wish to help.
People can be recommended to wear work out attire in order to teach simple yet effective workouts that everyone could enjoy in their own homes, finding a way to make exercise fun and easy for busy families can influence the community to do it. It can be a large scale effort to get private companies to donate their time or money for the cause of healthier communities. Another way of helping the overall health of the people who are socially and conomically disadvantaged is to addressed the social determinants of health.
Access to clean water, healthy food, safe homes and neighborhoods, increasing Job benefits and wages, improving schools are Just some of the ways that we can help increase the life expectancy of the poor and increase health. We can go about addressing these areas by having increased awareness through San Antonio and city wide efforts to help lower income families. Helping create cheap health insurance for low income families can help open the doors to better health care for more people nstead of Just the higher income families.
Having more local parks and easier access to a running track can help push start fitness for adults and children. I believe that making social programs that help give poor families air filters, water filters, non-lead based paint, new mattresses, insulation and other basic things that people need to live and be healthy should begin. Funding for the social programs could come from different companies for example mattress stores that can donate mattresses and home improvement stores can also donate items that could help the families in need
Many different approaches can be taken in order to help the economically disadvantaged and it Just needs proper funding and community support. If people realized all the effects that actually come with being a low income individual maybe people would be more willing to help others. I believe that this is a major problem that needs to be addressed and changed because many people are in this category of low income families. By trying to lessen the reasons for stress for low income individuals you can help increase the life expectancy and lower the diabetes mortality rates.
