Sandro Galea
- Published in print:
- 2022
- Published Online:
- November 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197576427
- eISBN:
- 9780197576458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197576427.003.0002
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
This chapter analyzes the health divides in the United States, which unfold along economic, racial, and ethnic lines. These health divides reflect a core paradox of modernity—a world that is ...
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This chapter analyzes the health divides in the United States, which unfold along economic, racial, and ethnic lines. These health divides reflect a core paradox of modernity—a world that is simultaneously far healthier than it has ever been and far less healthy than it could be. By bringing health inequalities to the surface, COVID-19 complicates the narrative of progress. Again and again in the US, one sees people sicken and die not just from the disease, but from a status quo which significantly increased their chance of catching the contagion or developing a more serious case of it. Indeed, it soon became clear that Black populations were significantly likelier to suffer from the virus than whites. Being owned as property, then being subject to generations of Jim Crow laws and the denial of full social and political rights, created for the Black community a level of disadvantage constituting a foundational flaw in the overall health of the country. If any good came from COVID-19, it was that the pandemic shattered the idea that the poor health faced by marginalized communities is merely the problem of those communities and that it is not fundamentally a product of the health inequities.Less
This chapter analyzes the health divides in the United States, which unfold along economic, racial, and ethnic lines. These health divides reflect a core paradox of modernity—a world that is simultaneously far healthier than it has ever been and far less healthy than it could be. By bringing health inequalities to the surface, COVID-19 complicates the narrative of progress. Again and again in the US, one sees people sicken and die not just from the disease, but from a status quo which significantly increased their chance of catching the contagion or developing a more serious case of it. Indeed, it soon became clear that Black populations were significantly likelier to suffer from the virus than whites. Being owned as property, then being subject to generations of Jim Crow laws and the denial of full social and political rights, created for the Black community a level of disadvantage constituting a foundational flaw in the overall health of the country. If any good came from COVID-19, it was that the pandemic shattered the idea that the poor health faced by marginalized communities is merely the problem of those communities and that it is not fundamentally a product of the health inequities.
Michael Marmot
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199931392
- eISBN:
- 9780199345731
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199931392.003.0019
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Inequalities in health refer to the systematic differences in health among social groups. In rich countries, and increasingly in low and middle income countries, health follows a social gradient ...
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Inequalities in health refer to the systematic differences in health among social groups. In rich countries, and increasingly in low and middle income countries, health follows a social gradient progressively worse the lower people are on the social scale. While the causal direction between wealth and health may run both ways, there is strong evidence that social conditions have powerful influence in generating these health inequalities. This body of evidence has allowed us to formulate recommendations to government and others on means to reduce health inequalities. The reason for action to reduce such health inequalities is a moral one, not primarily economic. Health should be seen as a value in itself not only as a means to some other end, such as wealth of individuals or societies. We should have two societal goals: improve average health and reduce inequalities. Both are valuable and should not be traded off against each other.Less
Inequalities in health refer to the systematic differences in health among social groups. In rich countries, and increasingly in low and middle income countries, health follows a social gradient progressively worse the lower people are on the social scale. While the causal direction between wealth and health may run both ways, there is strong evidence that social conditions have powerful influence in generating these health inequalities. This body of evidence has allowed us to formulate recommendations to government and others on means to reduce health inequalities. The reason for action to reduce such health inequalities is a moral one, not primarily economic. Health should be seen as a value in itself not only as a means to some other end, such as wealth of individuals or societies. We should have two societal goals: improve average health and reduce inequalities. Both are valuable and should not be traded off against each other.
