Do People Choose Their Own Health

Do People Choose Their Own Health? The goal of public health is to strive towards the best possible health for the largest portion of the population. Unfortunately there are many roadblocks and hindrances to achieving this goal. When studying the overall health of society, it’s best to start by analyzing a specific disease of problem. Public health experts need to understand the causes, the transmission, the symptoms, the underlying risk factors, and outside factors influencing a specific disease in order to effectively treat and prevent further spread. Studying public health and the spread and prevention of diseases often brings to light many social inequalities that prevent or limit healthcare available to parts of the populations. This thought beckons the question – Do People Choose Their Own Health? Through a study of obesity as a result of poor diet and physical inactivity, this paper will argue that people are not fully capable of choosing their own health and many times are victims of their environmental conditions and socioeconomic status. In order to further study this question we need to understand our disease – obesity. Obesity is defined as excess adipose tissue, or excess fat. Obesity is a public

Often times disadvantaged locations do not have as many medical centers or clinics concentrated in areas that are reachable for patients or people at risk. People also may not be able to pay for appropriate doctors’ visits. Many times these people do not have access to, or would not qualify for insurance that can help. Some studies have also found that minorities and those that are advantaged can be less like to be referred to certain types of medical services (Huntington p. 165-170). Situations like these highlight the health disparities of people less likely to receive care are often those of lower socioeconomic