Argument paper The obesity epidemic and our nation’s health as a whole have many factors that include socioeconomic status in particular. Socioeconomic Status and Childhood Obesity will always shape our nations vision and mission with what we do with healthcare. Healthcare in America is in a major reconstruction faze, and is in much need of it, obesity and socioeconomic status are going to be the major contributors to this reconstruction. The ability to have access to better resources for sure allows one to explore better options, but for children in a low socioeconomic life style options are limited. For example, children from this type of living lack the finances to shop for healthier more expensive foods. Socioeconomic status is defined by ones education, income, occupation, and is also known to include the social standing of a group or individual (Education and Socioeconomic Status 1). This could lead many people in this status to take up unhealthy eating habits. Children that live in a low socioeconomic lifestyle become the victims of this unhealthy eating and the obesity epidemic that has hit the United States is a result of that. In addition, children that eat too many calories pick up excess weight because of the lack of energy being burned through physical activity (Bales, Coleman, Wallinga 1). The problems with our health care has brought to the table many debates on what we do with it and how do we move forward for the future, and socioeconomic status and childhood obesity has been a part of that debate. In society today our participation in socioeconomic, everyday food consumption and physical activities can define our state of mind as a nation. One reason for childhood obesity through studies is the concept of the... ... middle of paper ... ...Erik, Sadana, Ritu, What Can public Health Programs Do To Improve Health Equity. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 18 November 2013 Huntoon KM, McCluney CJ, Scannell CA, Wiley EA, Bruno R, Andrews A, Gorman P. Healthcare reform and the next generation: United States medical student attitudes toward the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Plos ONE. 2011;6(9):e23557. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023557. Epub 2011 Sep 13. Web. 20 November 2013 Becker, Gay, Newson, Edwina, Socioeconomic Status and Dissatisfaction With Health care Among Chronically Ill American Americans. NCBI. 2002 December 26. American Journal of Public Health 2003. Web. 20 November 2013. Popkin, M, Simons S, Kim, Contrasting socioeconomic profiles related to healthier lifestyles in China and the United States. NCBI. Am J Epidemiol. 2004 Jan 15;159(2):184-9 1. Web. 20 November 2013
The public needs to address racial disparities in health which is achievable by changing policy addressing the major components of socioeconomic status (income, education, and occupation) as well as the pathways by which these affect health. To modify these risk factors, one needs to look even further to consider the factors. Socioeconomic status is a key underlying factor. Several components need to be identified to offer more options for those working on policy making. Because the issue is so big, I believe that not a single policy can eliminate health disparities in the United States. One possible pathway can be education, like the campaign to decrease tobacco usage, which is still a big problem, but the health issue has decreased in severity. The other pathway can be by addressing the income, by giving low-income individuals the same quality of care as an individual who has a high
Williams, D. R., & Collins, C. (1995). Us socioeconomic and racial differences in health: Patterns and explanations. Annual Review of Sociology, 21(1), 349. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9509242616&site=ehost-live
Obesity is a huge problem that needs to be resolved because it affects all people, unlike most issues. People of every gender, every age, and every race are at risk of being obese. Obesity rates in America have nearly doubled within the last twenty years. Something must be done not only to prevent obesity rates continuous rising, but also to dramatically increase the percentage of obese people in America altogether.
Healthy People 2020 is a program for the promotion of health and the prevention of diseases, launched by the Department of Health and Human Services in December 2010. According to healthypeople.gov, this program has four overarching goals which are first to achieve healthy, longer lives free of preventable diseases, injuries, and premature deaths; to achieve health fairness, eliminate differences, and improve all groups’ health; also to produce social and physical environments that encourage good health; and last but not least to promote life’s quality, healthy development, and healthy behaviors through all life stages. This program has a vision of a community where people live long, healthy lives. Healthy People 2020 offers a comprehensive set of 10 years of nationwide goals and objectives that is meant to improve the health of the American population. Healthy People 2020 covers 42 topic areas with approximately 600 objectives, which include 1,200 measures. A smaller set of Healthy People 2020 objectives, has been designated to communicate high-priority health issues and actions that can be taken to address them, this objectives are called Leading Health Indicators. The program goes above and beyond these health indicators in order to provide the best care for the people of this country. These indictors cover from the access of health service, nutrition, physical activity, and obesity to substance abuse, environmental quality, injury and violence.
Over 60 million people are obese in the world today. The socioeconomic statuses of the Americans play a major part in the obesity rates across the country. People with higher incomes are less likely to be obese than people with lower incomes. One in every seven preschool-aged children living in lower income areas are obese (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). A 2008 study showed that obesity is highest among American Indian and Alaska Native (21.2 percent) and Hispanic Americans (18.5 percent) children, and it is lowest among white (12.6 percent), Asian or Pacific Islander (12.3 percent), and black (11.8 percent) children (Get America Fit).
...an, P., Egerter, S., & Williams, D. R. (2011). The social determinants of health: coming
One hundred and forty-seven billion dollars. This is the estimated cost of obesity in the United States (CDC, 2013). Today, obesity is on trend to being one of the biggest public health challenges since tobacco (Perry & Creamer, 2013). In 2010 33.7% of US adults and 17% of children aged 2-19 were considered obese (CDC, 2013). While obesity is rising at an exponential rate, there is disconnect between how society views and defines obesity and the actual medical costs and future health risks the disease holds (ACSM, 2010). This is where medical professionals need to bridge the gap of medical and social construction.
Since 1970, the obesity rates in America have more than doubled. Currently two-thirds of (roughly 150 million) adults in the United States are either overweight, or obese (Food Research and Action Center). According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “overweight is defined as a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 whereas obesity is defined as a BMI greater than 30.” There are numerous factors that contribute to obesity such as: biological, behavioral and cultural influences (Food Research and Action Center). While these factors all have a large role in obesity, there is no factor with as great of an influence as poverty.
An individual’s age, gender, race, income, and environment directly affects a person’s health. These determinants contribute to health disparities and equity issues in society. Addressing these differences helps create a health plan that fits an individual, and not just those who fit under a certain demographic. The problem of using determinants to define one’s health status causes individuals to be at a disadvantage compared to others; instead these individuals should be supported in order to improve their quality of life. Health status refers to the physical, mental, and emotional condition that individuals have within their community. It is important to understand that not every person has the same level of health. Illnesses and disabilities
In conclusion, it is clear that social factors are strongly influential on health and the increasing amount of studies addressing this issue is an indicator of their roles in understanding health. Socioeconomic status has been widely used to investigate the health inequalities and the possible, explanations, justifications and mechanisms by which they impact on health.
However, the U.S. lacks a systematic national strategy to identify and address the set of social and environmental determinants of health that are most responsible for health outcomes (IOM report, 2010). We as a nation are behind our counterparts from Canada and Britain that have collected socioeconomic data for decades. In the past there has been a limited effort to address this issue. In 2009, the CDC in their Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System introduced a “social context” module that was then used by 12 states to assess civic engagement. Questions were asked as part of the assessment about food, housing, and job security (IOM report, 2010). In the 1960s there were several efforts to prepare a national docume...
This Executive summary’s principal concern is how social economic disparities exist for certain groups today. Social equalities and quality of healthcare is needed to improve the life span of several ethnic and social economic groups. Therefore, many people remain disadvantaged and unable to receive the care they need to improve their life span. There are compelling inconsistencies in the equalities of healthcare based on social status and race. (House, 2012) Currently, there are 46 million people that are uninsured and cannot afford out of pocket expenses we must immediately concentrate on the shortfalls in the quality and effectiveness of care that result to greater costs and meager health outcomes. (Improving Quality and Value in the U.S. Health Care System , 2009) Many people are working fulltime jobs and still only able to have enough money for the necessities in life such as food, utilities, and a home to live in. Many patients are going without receiving vital medical care. For this reason, we should care because this country is based on the fundamental that everyone is created equal and should be treated equally. Hence, they should have the same access to healthcare as others.
The coherence between socio-economic factors and good health has been observed over a view decades and, that the socio –economic factors have a massive impact on the health of the individual is not new. Today, the Government UK provides a range of health campaigns, to alert the public to live healthier. Health promotions in schools, children centre, and community centre or in the hospital taking place. Such for example,” the fit for life campaign, “where the main focus is to eat health food. However, there are still barriers which have an influence on the behaviour of the individual, to take part by health promotions. Therefore, it is important to have a look where does the individual come from, to understand their behaviour.
Consumerism is a major part of our national identity, and saving as much of the hard earned money is always an important goal for any American. The fast food industry advertises deals on the radio, television, newspaper, and nowadays it is a major part of social media. “Two for the price of one,” “buy one get one half off,” “make it a large meal for only 50 cents more!” These are common phrases society have become accustomed to hearing, and while people think they are making the right choice by taking these deals and saving some money, they have never really stop to think about what these deals are doing to their health. The food industry is selling unhealthy food and drinks very cheaply, and people are
Vanderbilt, A., Isringhausen, K., VanderWielen, L., Wright, M., Slashcheva, L., & Madden, M. (2013). Health disparities among highly vulnerable populations in the United States: a call to action for medical and oral health care. Medical Education Online, 18. doi:10.3402/meo.v18i0.20644