Personal health is on everyone’s mind right now. Not that long ago we didn’t think about infectious disease and many people didn’t think much about chronic disease either.
I make a few assumptions about you when I write these blog posts. I assume that you are safe, that you have a home, money to buy food, that you are educated and understand that you have some choices about your future health.
But, some don’t.
Depending on circumstances many people don’t have the basics. What the experts call the social determinants of health. The World Health Organization refer to these as,
The social determinants of health (SDH) are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. These forces and systems include economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies and political systems.
WHO
Inequality can affect health.
Current events have highlighted the inequalities that many people face. Poor neighbourhoods have higher rates of COVID-19 infections, reduced access to healthy food, less time or resources to stay fit, higher rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes. Indigenous, African-American, Latino, Phillipino are a few examples of communities with higher rates of health inequality.
Inequality changes health habits and outcomes. It affects us all. We all pay. For some, the cost is much higher than for others.
We all benefit when we have access to healthy food, clean water and air when we have a regular health provider and a safe place to live.
Inequality costs.
It increases crime and corruption, decreases growth and stability.
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed who really is essential. There is daily evidence of racial inequality and the latest has exposed the belief that some lives are less important than others.
The two together have highlighted that we are all in this together.
What we do to the earth, to our neighbours, to the environment is connected and until we fix them we will never truly be healthy.
Change your mind, change your health,
Shayla
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