The Impact of Health Policies, Research Paper Example

Global health policies may bring immense impacts the social conditions determining people’s health. A recent study by Harvard University shows that 45, 000 Americans die because of the absence of proper health care coverage (Betsy & Jamie, n.d). Most of the victims hail from humble backgrounds poor in socioeconomic terms. The U.S. spends enormous sum of money on medical care and health insurance than any other country. Despite this, the U.S. nearly ranks the least among the developed nations in infant mortality and life expectancy.

Johan (n.d) asserts that most policy and political analysis on health, in the U.S., concentrate on insurance and medical care. Levels of population health beyond the worry that spending may seriously affect receive little attention. The way in which policy discussion concentrates on medical services ignores facts through history about sweeping change causes in the populations’ overall health. This has also neglected other opportunities medical care domain, which could improve health.

The social factors, which determine peoples’ health, include the conditions in which people grow, live, work, are born and age. This also includes the health system in place. Money, power and local, national and global resources shape these circumstances. Health inequities often come because of these social determinants. The World Health Organization (WHO) responded to the increasing concern of health inequities in the year 2005 by establishing the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) (Audrey de, et al., 2011). The commission provided advice on how to reduce the widening inequities through three crucial recommendations. One was the improvement of the daily living conditions. Two entailed tackling inequitable resource money and power distribution. The third involved understanding and assessing the impact of action and measuring the problem. Addressing of the issue of healthcare is thus not an easy matter demanding a mere large allocation of money, but it means more than this. It needs a holistic approach that ensures addressing of the problems of poverty and political status of the people.

References

Audrey de, N., Mark J., N., Josep M., A., Michael, B., David, B., Charlotte, B., & … Erik, L. (2011). Review: Improving health through policies that promote active travel: A review of evidence to support integrated health impact assessment. Environment International, 37766-777. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2011.02.003

Betsy, H., & Jamie, S. (n.d). Workforce Demand Study: Population Risk Factors and Trends in Health Care and Public Policy. Journal Of The Academy Of Nutrition And Dietetics, 112(Supplement), S35-S46. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2011.12.011

Johan P., M. (n.d). The persistence of health inequalities in modern welfare states: The explanation of a paradox. Social Science & Medicine, doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.02.031