Economic factors influencing health and social care
Health and social care can be influenced by various factors within global, political, economic and cultural contexts (Stoddart and Evans 2017). Each of these context influences the delivery of health and social care in different ways and shapes the current debate and discussions about health care. This essay will critically analyse ways in which global cultural and economic and political issues contribute to the current state of health and social care.
Economic factors are one of the strongest influencers of health and social care in any country. These factors can include housing, education, employment and income since access to all these factors is affected by the economic strength of a country (Bourgois et al. 2017). Additionally, the economic factors has been considered to be the largest predictor as well as driver for health outcomes, influencing health behavior or people and is the second most prominent contributor towards life expectancy and health of the people (Harper 2014). It can be added that countries that have a poorer economic position often struggles to maintain the health and wellbeing of the people andare more likely to have higher rates of mortality and morbidity and poorer health outcome for the people. Lack of economic strength also results in a reduced access to healthcare as well as education which in turn increasehealth problems and unemployment that further affects the socioeconomic status. Deterioration of the socioeconomic status also can lead to deprivation. It can also be added that even within developed countries, the same patterns can be seen in the case of deprived neighborhood characterized by a poor economy and unemployment (Versteegh et al. 2016). Some authors have pointed out that in UK; the poorest areas have the highest incidence of poverty, unemployment, mental health problems (such as depression) as well as higher rates of violence (Whitehead et al. 2016). Thus, economic instability can lead to social unrest, social conflicts and adverse health outcomes for the people and indicates that health and social care and the wellbeing of a population is socially determined. One can also argue that in addition to socioeconomic status, culture and lifestyle practices influence health outcomes for many individuals. These two factors are intricately linked to one individual’s socio-economic status.
Cultural factors influence how people behave and react to different situations. It has been pointed out that culture influences how people think about illness and health, how they work towards it, how the actions of healthcare providers and organizations are perceived by the people and how the people interact with the environment, economy and politics (Johnson et al. 2016). The culture of a region can either improve or limit access of healthcare for people. For example, the Irish Traveler culture in the UK consists of people with a nomadic lifestyle and no permanent residence as they keep moving through the country (Epstein et al. 2015). Due to the nomadic nature and a lack of a permanent address, provision of healthcare has been challenging for them in UK as a result of which there is a higher incidence of health problem among them (Patel et al. 2016). Culture can also impact the level of education among the people, which in turn can impact the levels of employment and socio economic status of people. Cultures that give value to knowledge and wisdom often show more inclination towards education and have lower rates of dropouts and better rates of employment according to some authors, which shows how culture can indirectly impact the health and wellbeing of the people. Additionally, a healthy culture that does not promote addiction or violence (as seen in the case of countries like Japan or Germany) tends to have better health outcomes for the people compared to cultures where these factors are prevalent (such as United States or Mexico) REF. Moreover, a culture that supports unhealthy lifestyles can also lead to an increase in the incidence of lifestyle related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity (Fietje and Stein 2015; Napier et al. 2014). Thus it can be seen that cultural factors can indirectly impact both the physical and social health of people.
Culture’s impact on health and social care
Globalisation had a multifaceted and a complex effect on the United Kingdom and the health of its population. United Kingdom has always been associated with the global economy and as a result is vulnerable to the different types of the health risks that arrive to its borders. The risks are created by the flow of capital, services, goods and the flow of people. There have been pressure on UK to liberalise the trade and it has taken precedence over the protection of the health of the public, and also protect the people from the emergence of the newer threats. The new threats are even not addressed by the existing health system. The greater mobility of the people across borders and the ageing population are the two main factors that have affected the health issues. UK will thus continue to be the hub for the mobile populations and at the same time will create both the opportunities and risks for promoting and protecting health. However, the rise in technology due to globalisation will also enhance the health and social education, health training though the global communication and the information systems. Also it is important to note that the absence of regulation over the internet has increased the tendencies of illegitimate marketing practices related to the services provided by the foreign companies and the health related goods (Buse and Hawkes 2015).
Impact of Brexit on the health and social care is one political factor worth discussing as it features almost every day in the news. Even if European Union (EU) has limited amount of jurisdiction over the health and social care and it will thus have a major implication on the social and health care prevailing in UK. The exit of United Kingdom from the European single market will affect the delivery of the healthcare services that works through the workforce as well as the services and goods. Secondly, several directive of EU affect the areas of United Kingdom law that similarly affect the delivery of the care and health services. Thirdly, it is also important to highlight that Brexit has occurred at the time period when the National Health Service along with the social care is already experiencing a huge amount of operational and financial pressure (kingsfund.org.uk 2018).
It is important to highlight that NHS is the national health care organization and any corruption within the organizational and the administrative level will jeopardize healthcare. The politicians from the parties have failed miserably to provide appropriate funding for health care. This has led to the both the distressing and predictable consequences. The lack of funding left the hospitals struggle with the rising demands of ageing and growing population. The challenges that the hospitals are currently facing has occurred due to the failure in the sufficient investment in the services of the community. The policies framed by the government and the corruption at the party level have made the condition worse (Ham 2017).
From the discussion above it can be concluded that economic, cultural, global as well as political factors can impact health and social care service provision and the wellbeing of people either through affecting the access to care or by influencing the behavior of people. The media presents these important issues to the general public to enable debate and discussion of important issues and to raise awareness of the state of health and social care in the country.
Globalisation’s multifaceted impact on health and social care in the UK
The basic understanding of epidemiology is to predict the condition in which people work, live and their health outcomes. Therefore, epidemiology and demography in health and social care is to offer proper guidance on how to plan and implement, scrutinize and the examination of risk of disease and disease outbreaks that may affect a population of a country. This was done in order to carry out environmental scanning on factors that precipitate transmission of disease and the hazards to the population. This paper will discuss changes related to contemporary issues affecting population in the context of epidemiology and demography concepts.
Epidemiology involves the distribution analysis of when, who and how in order to determine the condition of health and disease in a defined populationREF. The basic objective is to identify causes of disease, extent of the disease, the progression of disease and find an antidote and therapeutics measure to prevent the condition
Determining casualties in epidemiology can be illustrated in the Table below which estimates the numbers of causes of death from tobacco related health issues recording the highest numbers.
It can be deduced that, the causes of death were modifiable related factors and the opportunity to prevent death is apparent. As the figure may not be accurate as the percentage is not the total of 100%.
Demography examines population structure that characterize the primary age, sex, births, deaths and migration and it is used to decide the patterns and trends of population change. It has also been included recently as part of the structure the fertility, mortality and migration even to an individual level the study of relationships household and families. The UK population is currently on the rise due to a reduction in mortality, hence an aging population, reduction in births and an increase in Net Migration.
The demographic trends in UK is increasing aging population ONS (2015) and decreasing younger population. As a result of aging population there have been an economics and political challenges to the country (Hussmanns R 2007) because of the life expectancy that was quoted between 2001 and 2006, it was 75.6 for males and 79 for females Quesada, J( 2017). There is also an increase in non-cumulativenon-communicabledisease as a result of behavioral sedentary life style changes. They are cardiovascular disease(CVD) Diabetic etc, The Office of the National Statistics 2007 indicated that there are two interrelated factors that affects the demography change which are mortality and migration.
The UK population is growing and the national statistics estimated that 65.1 million in 2015, the largest ever, an increase of just over half a million people since 2014 estimating growth from 1960 growth up to 1980 and now finally estimated to passing 70 million people by 2026 by figure below.
The growth is as a result of ageing population. The percentage of 65 year of age increased between 1975and 2015 an increased from 14% to 17.8% and predicted to hit nearly quarter by 2045 (the table above). The epidemiologists used this statistic to predict provisions of services and pensions to these growths especially to the elderly.
Brexit’s implications for health and social care in the UK
Inequalities due to migration are the constant problem in UK. It may be due to the difference in the
The impact of this population changes
There could be a celebration for living longer but we have few people of the working age to support these pension age. It was estimated in 2016 about 308 pensionable age in every 1,000 people of working age by implication it putspressure on the demand for services such as housing, education and healthcareREF. Beginning from January 2016, UK was estimated to have the third largest population in 32 countries of EU with average of 263 people per kilometer according to Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union) and was projected that UK population will reach 77 million by 2050 as shown in the graph above. From the statistical observation immigrations have been higher than emigration with a level of (631,500) than emigration (299,200) because of free boarder movementREF. The impact of immigration on NHS costs in the abuse of overseas visitors and unchecked diagnosis of migrants that have major illness and diseases like Tuberculosis, HIV, and Hepatises spread diseases that are communicable(Moxon 2004).
There are direct correlations in unemployment that have adverse effect on health from epidemiology perspective taking into consideration the mortality and morbidity outcomes. It was estimated by national statistics that the death per year as result of unemployment is around 1145 and almost 221, 020 cases of mental illness and 275409 issues of LLTI in UK. It was shown that unemployment is very high in the North than in South and their high proportion of women suffering from ill health due to unemployment.
Conclusion
Having evaluated epidemiology and the demography of the population of a country especially UK, it can be deduced that there is a strong positive association between the health of a country and the demographic changes and various communicable disease that could spread as a result different age, sex, relationships, mortality and the immigration of people living there. It has also argued that unemployment and social deprivation can result from over population. It is now necessary for all the information gathered by epidemiologists to reach policy makers and to facilitate change in policy and regulations.
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