Assignment Two – Current patterns of ill health in the UK
M2: Discuss the factors likely to influence current and future patterns of health in the UK.
In the 21st century society there are two current factors that are very obvious in affecting patterns of health. These are that of social class affecting health and lifestyle choices.
There has always been a link between social class and health, even with the welfare state and the improvements made to health in all sections of societies over the years, a difference still remains in this area. This difference is applied to all aspects of health, which include life expectancy, general levels of health and infant mortality. Many people argue that as long as the quality of life is
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In the UK about 46% of men in England and 32% of women are overweight, and an additional 17% of men and 21% of women are classified as obese. Overweight people and obesity is rapidly increasing so it is estimated that by 2015 over 50% of the population will be obese. These campaigns have a big emphasis on education and in particular in settings such as primary and secondary schools. Children are being taught about healthy lifestyles, one of the big changes was inputting healthy foods into school canteens. Adults are also being educated by replicating the idea in schools workplaces also have fatty foods replaced with healthier foods and reducing the number of smoking areas to discourage smoking breaks at work when it all gets too stressful.
Improving lifestyle was given more of an emphasis after statistics showed the trends in obesity and learning that it was causing 9,000 premature deaths per year in the UK. It was also shown to cause heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer. Link this up with deaths caused by CHD in the UK shows that people need to learn more about healthy living. Due to these statistics some people are finally starting to realise problems between lifestyle choices and health and therefore quite a few are attempting to alter their lifestyle so as to maintain or proceed with a
M2 – Discuss the factors likely to influence current and future patterns of health in the UK
In the 21st century obesity within the UK was starting to become a major concern, after the issue of smoking had been dealt with. In order to get a handle on the growing problem of obesity, the prime minister at the time released a new piece of legislation otherwise known as “Choosing Health: Making healthy choices easier”. This piece of legislation was designed with the
The campaign we will be presenting is about obesity. In Sandwell, especially Smethwick; the number of children who are considered obese is 893 and the local value for this number is 25.9 where the England average is 19.0 and England’s worst is 26.5 ( as you can see the Sandwell figure is very close to England’s worst). These children are much more likely to develop health problems
Family up bringing/background: If a child or person (adult) has a poor upbringing or background, they may be at risk of certain diseases, if they lived in a house where it was poor condition (damp, mould on the walls or floors, the mother or father not washing the child’s clothes, leaving a baby in a dirty nappy) all these can cause problems, also if the family live in a high crime rate area, the child/children may be influenced by older peers/friends to commit crimes and offences, the influenced children may become criminals, and give the impression when they have children of their own that stealing
M2- Use different sociological perspectives to discuss patterns and trends of health and illness in TWO different social groups.
Social class helps to deter the reasons for individual’s health and ill health. Social classes also help with understanding health and ill health, this is done through the basis of individuals lifestyle class, for example the lower class who work in the worst
According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 1978), health can be defined not only in terms of absence of disease, injury or infirmity, but also, as a state of mental, physical and social well-being. Over the last decades, many studies have emphasized the role of social circumstances on health status. The tight link between health and a wide range of socioeconomic, environmental and demographics factors have been increasingly recognized and proffer an alternative perspective on how to consider public health, social justice and even restructuring of the health care system (Daniels et. al., 2004). The increasingly acknowledgement that health is also a result of cumulative experience of social conditions and exposure to environmental
Rowlingson (2011) agrees with Wilkinson and Pickett that there is indeed a strong correlation between income and health and social problems. In her report she includes the ‘Marmot Review’ (Marmot, 2010) which shows evidence that people living in England in the poorest areas compared to those living in the richest will, on average, die 7 years earlier. This suggests a clear link between class and health. The report further notes other additional factors, such as infant mortality, and mental and physical well being go hand in hand with inequality.
In line with the majority of other developed countries, the United Kingdom (UK) has offered its citizens a universal health care system that is free at the point of service. Funded primarily by taxation, the system is popular and efficient. However, along with most other health care systems around the world, it faces a series of challenges if it is to maintain viability, in the twenty-first century. These issues include; long waiting times, an aging population, funding challenges and the increasing cost of technology.
classes are perhaps not as clear as they used to be. But it is just as
Since the launch it has moved onto targeting parents of 1-4 years (Department of Health, 2009). The main aim of this campaign was to ‘eat more, move more, live longer’. Change 4 Life was published alongside Healthy lives, Healthy people: A call to action on obesity in England (Department of Health, 2011). The Change 4 Life programme will provide information, products and tools for individuals and families wanting to improve their lifestyle (Department of Health, 2011). Change 4 Life (Department of Health, 2009) state that if trends continue it is estimated that one in ten of the adult population will be a healthy weight by 2050. This therefore shows how important the Change 4 Life campaign is. At the same time it will influence the behaviours of todays children, leading to a steady decrease in the prevalance of obesity (Department of Health,
In order for me to get a good grasp on what Scotland is lacking in health, I wanted to look at the demographics of each health aspect and what population it affected the most. Because we are specifically targeting workplace wellness programs, I focused most of my attention on the population of people from the age of sixteen to the age of sixty-five (the average retirement age in Scotland is sixty-five). There are six different dimensions of health that contribute to someone 's overall well being. These dimensions are: occupational, spiritual, intellectual, physical, emotional and environmental. However, these fall under different health behaviors. The top health behavior problems in most countries are alcohol consumption, smoking, physical activity, diet and mental health. Through doing some research, I was able to get a hold of a book called The Scottish Health Survey. This book looks into these different health behaviors and shows how problematic each one was as of 2015.
The aim of this essay is to examine the influence that socio-economic status has on an individual’s health.
This essay will be discussing the extent to which social class and poverty affects health and illness. Firstly, what is social class? Each person’s perception of social class can be different; is social class defined by a person’s accent, the area they live in, or something as simple as their income? Project Britain describes social class as “The grouping of people by occupations and lifestyle”. (Cress, 2014). To find social class Sociologists group people according to common factors, they compare people and various criteria can be conveniently used to place people in social groups or classes. Next we ask the question what determines a person’s health, the NHS defines health as “Physical and mental, it is the absence of disease”. (NHS 2017).
“Healthy individuals cannot survive when society is sick.” On the other hand, aspects of social structure influence health and illness. Social factors not only affect life expectancy, but the possibilities the one will experience diseases and in turn, the health care that they will receive.