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Background: Perhaps the biggest predictor of one's health is one's wealth. It's not just the poor who are suffering; every step down the class pyramid corresponds to worse health. Study after study has shown that those at the top of the class pyramid live on average longer, healthier lives than the rest of us. The middle classes fare worse than those on the top, and the poor get sick more often and die sooner.
The greater the inequality in a ( more . . . )
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Income & Wealth: 151 items found |
Health Inequalities among British Civil Servants: the Whitehall II study
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE by Marmot, et al., The Lancet, July 1991 Twenty years after the original Whitehall study, which first identified the Health-Wealth gradient in British civil servants, the study was repeated with a new cohort of over 10,000 participants. The study found no decrease in inequality, with those lower on the social gradient still suffering higher rates of chronic disease and mortality. |
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Health Inequities in British Columbia (pdf)
DISCUSSION PAPER, Health Officers Council of British Columbia, November 2008 This report and recommendations from the health officers of British Columbia provides one of the clearest and easiest to understand documents on health equity produced thus far. The first half defines terms, sets a health equity framework, and makes policy recommendations that are widely applicable. The second half focuses on outcomes specific to British Columbia. |
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Health Inequities in the Bay Area
REPORT from the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII) This report is an attempt to show how the various forces discussed in UNNATURAL CAUSES influence health in the nine-county California Bay Area, and to suggest the kinds of policy initiatives and activities that will be crucial for both reducing the disparities among populations and improving our health overall. |
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Health Leadership: Action Steps DVD
PRESENTATION available from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation The 2007 Blue Cross Foundation Leadership Award Program and Luncheon featured a keynote by Dr. Anthony Iton, director of the Alameda County (California) public health department, on how race, class, wealth, education, geography and employment affect health status.
Also includes presentations from Atum Azzahir, co-founder, president and executive director of the Powderhorn Phillips Cultural Wellness Center in Minneapolis, and remarks by Marsha Shotley, foundation president; the new Minnesota Health Commissioner, Dr. Sanne Magnan; and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota President Colleen Reitan.
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Health Policy Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
WEB SITE With the mission to ignite a Fair Health movement that gives people of color the inalienable right to equal opportunity for healthy lives, this pioneering program of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies undertakes research, publications, activities, and projects designed to accelerate progress beyond listing and analyzing a litany of health disparities. Rather, they are directed toward collective strategies that will produce real change—and real opportunities for health.
See also: HPI Place Matters |
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How social injustice becomes embodied in differential disease and mortality rates (pdf)
DIAGRAM designed by Richard Hofrichter, National Association of City and County Health Officials A graphical representation of the complex interactions between history, social structure, policy, personal psychology and behavior, and health. Hofrichter provides the caveat that any attempt to visually represent a complex reality will appear somewhat oversimplified and linear. |
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How U.S. Laws and Social Policies Influence Chronic Stress and Health Disparities
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE, Holly Avey, Politics of Race, Culture, and Health Symposium, Ithaca College, Nov. 14, 2002 A clear, thorough overview explaining the stress process (exposures and vulnerabilities to stressors), physiological response to stressors (how stress "gets into the body"), and why people of color and lower socioeconomic status tend to be more negatively affected by stress. Concludes with policy implications. |
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How U.S. Laws and Social Policies Influence Chronic Stress and Health Disparities - A Response (pdf)
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE by Thomas C. Shevory, Ithaca College, 2002 A short response to Holly Avey's literature review that provides additional background and references regarding misconceptions of the character traits of "the poor" vs. "the affluent," chronic stressors, and the need for structural policy intervention. |
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How Unemployment Affects Families
WEB-EXCLUSIVE VIDEO, Unnatural Causes Job loss doesn't just affect individuals. It impacts families and even whole communities. Stress, uncertainty, and lost income affect children in various ways. |
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Impact of Poverty and Stress on Diabetes among Native Americans
WEB-EXCLUSIVE VIDEO, Unnatural Causes
As Dr. Donald Warne explains, there is a direct biochemical connection between living in poverty and blood sugar levels. The stress of being poor and of having family members die young creates a complicated web of cultural values and beliefs that make controlling diabetes more difficult. Add to that the lack of availability of healthy food and it's no wonder diabetes rates are high. |
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In the U.S., we don't take enough vacations - really
ESSAY by John de Graaf, San Francisco Chronicle, August 2008 De Graaf compellingly makes the case for federally guaranteed paid time off for all employees by laying out the links between vacation, productivity, child-rearing, and health. |
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Inclusion for the United States (pdf)
REPORT from Inclusion.org and the Center for Economic Policy and Research This working paper makes the case for a new, overarching framework—social inclusion—to advance and integrate social policy. It critiques the current poverty framework and the official U.S. poverty measure, and explains why the concept of social inclusion is a better alternative. The paper discusses how the concept of social inclusion is used in the United Kingdom and how it might be adapted for use in the United States. |
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Inequality in life expectancy widens for men
National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine
Wealthier men can expect to live longer than their parents did, while life expectancy for the poor have not changed.
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Inequality in life expectancy widens for women
National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Wealthier women can expect to live longer than their parents did, while life expectancy for poor women may have declined. |
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Inequality is Unhealthy: Dr. Stephen Bezruchka on How Economic Inequality is Dangerous to our Health
VIDEO INTERVIEW on Democracy Now! As lawmakers continue to debate healthcare proposals, Democracy Now takes a look at how the economic crisis can impact the health of people in this country. They speak with Dr. Stephen Bezruchka, professor at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health and series advisor, who has written extensively on the impact of societal and economic inequalities on the health of a population and argues that combating inequality might be the best way to ensure improved health. |
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Inequality.org
Inequality.org was created to serve as a dependable portal of information. They believe that too much inequality undermines democracy, community, culture and economic health, and they are committed to presenting the best and latest information about this important issue. |
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Inequality: Bad for Your Health
INTERVIEW with Ichiro Kawachi, Dollars & Sense, January 2008 Epidemiologist Ichiro Kawachi clearly explains the theory about how relative deprivation from economic inequality, and explores various possible mechanisms for the relationship. |
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Interim first report on social determinants of health and the health divide in the WHO European Region
Sir Michael Marmot on behalf of the WHO Although health has improved for many people, there are major inequalities in health - within and between countries - across the WHO European Region. Evidence shows that these inequalities should be mostly avoidable and has significant human and economic costs. Unless action is taken, the gap between and within countries will increase. The WHO Regional Office for Europe commissioned a regional review of the health divide and inequalities in health from July 2010 to 2012 in order to inform the new health policy for the Region. The first phase of the review is assessing levels of inequalities in health across the European Region and identifying the barriers to and opportunities for reducing these. |
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KIDS COUNT Data Center
DATABASE created by The Annie E. Casey Foundation A database system that contains state- and city-level data for over 100 measures of child well-being. This easy-to-use, powerful online database allows you to generate custom reports for a geographic area (Profiles) or to compare areas on a topic (Ranking, Maps, and Line Graphs). |
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Latina mothers poor in wealth, rich in health (pdf)
NEWS ARTICLE by Yvette Cabrera, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 11, 2002 National health records show that Latina women have significantly lower rates of premature and underweight births compared to Americans from other racial/ethnic groups - even than individuals wealthier than them. Cabrera looks at the story of this "Latino epidemiological paradox," and the hypothesis that Latino culture plays a major role in the health advantage. |
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Library of Resources on Social Determinants of Health
WEB SITE created and maintained by Dennis Raphael A great collection of resources on the issues surrounding SDOH, health equity, and the politics of creating real change in the social factors that most affect health outcomes.
See especially Raphael's "Public policies and the problematic USA population health profile," and "The Politics of Population Health: Why the Welfare State is the Key Social Determinant of Health."
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Life and Death From Unnatural Causes: Health and Social Inequity in Alameda County
REPORT from Alameda County Public Health Department, California This report takes an in-depth look at health inequities and underlying social inequities in Alameda County based on local data. Part One describes the nature and magnitude of health inequities in the county. Part Two describes social inequities and proposes policies to address social inequities-the root causes of health inequities. Sections include: segregation, income and employment, education, housing, transportation, air quality, food access and liquor stores, physical activity and neighborhood conditions, criminal justice, access to health care and social relationships and community capacity.
Also see Alameda County Public Health Department Director Dr. Tony Iton's comment on press coverage of the study. |
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Life at the Top
EDITORIAL by Sir Michael Marmot, New York Times, 2005 "The Oscar winners are a quirky example of a phenomenon that is remarkably widespread: the higher your status in the social hierarchy the better your health and the longer you live..." |
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Life in a Town Without Poverty
Dr. Evelyn Forget Once upon a time in Canada, there was a town where no one was poor. That might seem like a fairy tale, but it's an historic fact. From 1974 through 1978, as part of a labour market experiment called MINCOME, all of the almost 13,000 citizens in and around Dauphin, Manitoba were guaranteed annual income support to keep them above the poverty line.
With support from CIHR, Dr. Forget has spent three years comparing the administrative health care records of Dauphin's citizens between 1974 and 1978 with those of a control group of people living in similar Manitoba communities at that time. She found that people appear to live healthier lives when they don't have to worry about poverty. |
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Living at an Epicenter of Diabetes, Defiance and Despair
NEWS ARTICLE in the New York Times, January 1, 2006 The second in a series of in-depth articles about New Yorkers living with diabetes, this article describes the epidemic of diabetes in low-income neighborhoods like East Harlem.
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