Issues and Reasons of Health Inequality in Uk

Question: Discuss about the Issues And Reasons Of Health Inequality In Uk? Answer: Introduction Health inequality is avertable and unjust differences in health status faced by a different group of people. People living under a poor social, economic condition, are more likely to experience persistent ill health and die earlier than those who are living is a superior social, economic condition (Bartley 2012). However, health inequalities are not only noticeable between people of different social, economical condition but also noticeable between different genders and different ethnic groups. Health inequality is also found between the employed people and unemployed people. In this assignment, health inequality in the men and women of UK will be discussed. From previous researcher or surveys it has found that for each every disease, more number of men are affected that women. With proper evidence, the data on health inequality in UK between men and women will be mentioned in this assignment. Health inequity in UK for Men and Women According to report that was published in the year of 2013, health inequity has become a serious issue in UK. However, in last few years, health has indeed improved, but the analysis by The Equality Trust has found that in the last 20 years, the gap in the life expectancy for people in different local authority areas has increased 41 percent for men and decreased 73 percent for women (Diderichse et al. 2012). So health inequality for different gender is very high in UK. It is fond that, for different issues, percentage of affected men is highly different from percentage of affected women. Graph1: Health inequality graph for employed and unemployed men v/s employed women and (Source: Poverty.org.uk 2016) Unemployed women (for mental illness) The above graphs shows 10% employed men are prawn to get affected by mental illness where almost 17% employed women is suffering by mental weakness in UK. On the other hand, in case of un-employment, nearly 27% men are affected by mental illness and 30% women are affected by mental illness. This is an evidence of health inequality in UK for mental illness between the employed and unemployed men and women. Graph 2: Health inequality graph of Men and Women of UK died of Cancer. (Source: Poverty.org.uk 2016) The above graph is established according to the data of 2009, which was updated later in 2010. It shows the health inequality between men and women of UK for cancer. One citizen of UK among 30 is suffering from either lung cancer or respiratory cancer in UK (Poverty.org.uk 2016). From the above graph it can be said that, health inequality is very much visible in this case too. Graph 3: Health inequality graph for men and women, suffering from lung cancer Source: (dailymail.co.uk 2011) According to the reports of 2011, the above graph shows that 18000 men of UK are suffering from lung cancer where 15000 women of UK are affected by lung cancer (dailymail.co.uk 2011). Graph 4: Health inequality graph for Men and Women, died of stroke. (Source: stroke.org.uk 2016) In 2010, stroke was the fourth largest reason of death in UK just after cancer, heart disease and respiratory disease. Nearly 50,000 people died in UK because of stroke. The above data shows health inequality among men and women as more than 30,000 women died of stroke where a little more than 18,000 men died of stroke, in UK (stroke.org.uk 2016). Conclusion Health inequality is a serious problem in UK as, because of many social and economical reasons inequality is found among men and women suffering from a same disease. However, health inequality is not only present in men and women, but also different socio ecological condition, geographical locations create impact on health inequality. In this assignment, the researcher has shed light on Gender health inequality in UK. To understand the topic, four graphs are placed in the assignment based on different health issues in UK. All four graphs are indicating the strong presence of health inequality in UK. The first graph is showing inequality among the employed men and women of UK and among the unemployed men and women of UK in case of mental illness. According to the graph, employed men can resist mental illness more that unemployed men. For women, the ratio is same. But if we compare among men and women, more number of employed and unemployed women are suffering from mental illness than employed and unemployed men. In the second graph, it is clear that in case of cancer and other diseases related to cancer, less number of men is affected than women. Third graph and fourth graph is showing huge differences among affected men and women, in case of lung cancer and stroke problems. References Bartley, M., 2012. Explaining health inequality: Evidence from the UK.Social Science Medicine,74(5), pp.658-660. dailymail.co.uk, 2011.Lung cancer rates are still RISING in women but are falling among men. [online] Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2016855/Lung-cancer-rates-RISING-women-falling-men.html [Accessed 6 Jan. 2016]. Diderichsen, F., Andersen, I., Manuel, C., Andersen, A.M.N., Bach, E., Baadsgaard, M., Brnnum-Hansen, H., Hansen, F.K., Jeune, B., Jrgensen, T. and Sgaard, J., 2012. Health Inequality-determinants and policies.Scandinavian journal of public health,40(8 suppl), pp.12-105. Poverty.org.uk, 2016.Northern Ireland: mental health - The Poverty Site. [online] Available at: https://www.poverty.org.uk/i62/index.shtml [Accessed 5 Jan. 2016]. Poverty.org.uk, 2016.UK: suicides - The Poverty Site. [online] Available at: https://www.poverty.org.uk/37/index.shtml [Accessed 5 Jan. 2016]. stroke.org.uk, 2016.Stroke statistics. [online] Available at: https://www.thepossibilities.co.uk/assets/downloads/stroke-statistics.pdf [Accessed 6 Jan. 2016].