Inequalities in Health in Contemporary UK - Coursework Example

Running Head: HEALTH INEQUALITIES INEQUALITIES IN HEALTH IN CONTEMPORARY UK By State Date INEQUALITIES IN HEALTH IN CONTEMPORARY UK I. Introduction Healthcare outcomes such as wide life expectancy gaps keep on advancing in the UK because of better social settings, advanced clinical and scientific expertise, a highly skilled professional labour force, and vast investments in the healthcare sector. However, these outcomes are not often relevant to the demographic of MTCT of HIV because they are social and economic backgrounds play roles that are more pivotal in the health outcomes. The monitoring of MTCT (mother-to-child transmission) of HIV in the UK depends on private and volunteer information from paediatricians and obstetricians. The following paper examines a group of UK citizens living with HIV/AIDS, the degree and character of health inequalities this group faces, their life expectancies, challenges they face with housing and at work, and ways they cope with other illnesses. Thesis: A baby born into a home with educated and financially prosperous parents has a better chance of living longer without disease and disability than a baby born to parents who are not. II. The HIV/AIDS Demographic in Contemporary UK MTCTs of HIV are among the least affected and vulnerable groups in the UK (RITCHIE, 2014, p. 79). Accurately determining this statistic depends on their social and economic backgrounds and U.K.’s health marketing campaign tactics and mediums (DORAN, FULLWOOD, KONTOPANTELIS, and REEVES, 2008, p. 731). The high acceptance of postnatal HIV testing and the accessibility of medications to hinder MTCTs has added to a low MTCT rate of only 1%. HIV tests linked to MTCT in the UK were only 95 in 2011 although most of these cases were infections that the infected had in fact spread outside the country (Chiodi, 2012, p. 2384). Almost 2,200 cases of HIV-positive people in the UK since 1985 got the illness through MTCT. Expectancy rates among HIV-positive women in the UK have risen since 2012. In 2012, 2,316 children of 14 years and below were diagnosed with HIV acquired from the others during birth (RITCHIE, 2014, p. 80). Just 2% of this population had access to HIV treatment in 2012 in the UK. This statistic reveals the great contribution paid by abled parents in the case of MTCTs of HIV. A whopping 98% of children born with HIV in the UK will most likely die because of the inaccessibility of HIV care (Joachim, 2012, p. 8). A 2012 research found out that the number of terminated expectancies in the UK reduced from 13% between 2000 and 2001 to 3% between 2008 and 2009. This rise in women keeping their children was possibly a product of more access to MTCT prevention programs and treatments (Chiodi, 2012, p. 2385). However, the cost of these programs and treatments remains a challenge for many HIV-positive mothers in the UK irrespective of the successful rates of preventing MTCTs of HIV (MELDRUM and BUCKMAN, 2010, p. 1983). Mothers who can afford accessibility to these programs gets antiretroviral treatments to hinder the transmission of HIV to their unborn children (Chiodi, 2012, p. 2386). An approximated 927 children born to HIV-positive women in 2012 in the UK acquired the disease. Decreases in MTCTs meant that there were just 18 reported HIV cases amongst children in the UK in 2012 (RITCHIE, 2014, p. 78). In 2009, the ONS (Office of National Statistics) predicted that people residing in the most deprived places in the UK would pass away about seven years before those residing in lavish places would. The main difference in the life expectancy of English residents living in the most deprived and high-end places while free of disabilities is 17 years (RITCHIE, 2014, p. 79). The ONS also predicted that men residing in the poorest Scottish areas would pass away almost 11 years before those in high-end areas. Scotland has a mean difference of 18.5 years between men with access to good healthcare services and those without this access (Blackman, Hunter, Marks, Harrington, Elliott, Williams, Greene, and Mckee, 2010, p. 47). In Northern Ireland, men residing in the most deprived areas are most likely to pass away about eight years before those in the wealthiest areas. These statistics offer a clear picture of the grim health inequalities of the HIV/AIDS demographic in the UK. Developments brought about by the UK government to alleviate the impact of poor social and economic backgrounds on health outcomes are still ineffective. These developments mask a growing gap between the health outcomes of babies born into high-end and poorest communities. Parents who are learned and fiscally prosperous provide their children with better opportunities for increasing the life expectancy is by lowering their exposure to disease and disabilities. In contrast, children from families that are not educated and impoverished are prone to get illnesses such as HIV/AIDS. The UK has both types of families largely because of social and economic inequalities that echo and assist in determining its generations’ health outcomes (DORAN et al., 2008, p. 733). The differences caused by these inequalities are inequitable when the UK can ascertain whether they are imbalanced or preventable. III. Reasons that Contribute to the High Levels of HIV/AIDS in Contemporary UK A. Government Policy U.K.’s labour administration prioritised health inequalities in 1997 and included several policy records in its health agenda, along with several related target groups. This privatisation effort led to the establishment of target groups under the DH (Department of Health) in 2004 to lower the gap in life expectancy. During this period, this gap existed in local authorities with high rates of poverty and the overall population by 10% in 2010 (Chiodi, 2012, p. 2385). Among the target groups established by the DH were the HIV/AIDS positive demographic. As a result, the Labour administration in UK acknowledges the significance of advancing the life opportunities for children to address health inequalities. An example of this acknowledgement was the “Every Child Matters” program that made the announcement of economic welfare among its five primary objectives (DORAN et al., 2008, p. 729). This program further devoted its resources to reducing the rate of child poverty caused by MTCTs of HIV/AIDS by 50% within ten years. In spite of good motives and vast investments, the Labour administration has not managed to decrease the U.K.’s life expectancy gap or lower child poverty by 50% (Blackman et al., 2010, p. 47). The UK voiced a dedication to decrease health inequalities and spread awareness about the need for supporting the Marmot review. The government emphasised the need to discover new methods of altering behaviour under public health policy (Joachim, 2012, p. 11). The discovery of these new methods was made possible by encouraging individual responsibility for health, conveying obligations from public health departments to local establishments, and incentivising positive implications (Smith and Eltanani, 2015, p. 13). The UK gave the direct duty of delivering developments in health imbalances to local establishments and health and welfare panels. Policies designed by healthcare units accept the DH additionally have a substantial effect on adult outcomes. For instance, policies associated with transport, education, the environment, and economic security in the UK affect the health outcomes of children born into separate poor and wealthy families (MELDRUM and BUCKMAN, 2010, p. 1983). Scotland has a “National Performance Framework” set to lower health inequalities in the public sector. This framework intends to use major performance pointers such as the rise in the number of children with healthy birth weights to provide technical courses of action for those fields of developments considered most probable to have a lasting impact (Smith and Eltanani, 2015, p. 15). Nonetheless, Scotland still has some of the worst life expectancy and healthy life expectancy statistics in the UK even though these numbers are getting better. Scotland issued the “Equally Well: Report of the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities” report dedicated to alleviating socio-economic deprivation (DORAN et al., 2008, p. 730). The four main concerns for measures to lower health inequalities in Scotland were prompt interventions, killer diseases such as HIV/AIDS, psychological conditions, and drug and alcohol addiction (Blackman et al., 2010, p. 49). Experiment sites situated across Scotland pioneered new strategies to the decrease of health inequalities following the publishing of this report. The Scottish government further encouraged related activity like the advancement of the “Keep Well” task to provide targeted health groups such as the HIV-positive residing in the country’s poorest areas, and more financial ventures in the Family Nurse Partnership paradigm (Smith and Eltanani, 2015, p. 8). B. Fiscal Security and Health in the U.K.’s Current Economic Setting The U.K.’s contemporary financial security and condition is a holistic factor in affecting the health and prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Impoverishment and inadequate sources of livelihood are influential triggers of deprived health and health inequalities. The implication of the U.K.’s recent financial downturn was substantial to the healthcare level of the deprived, and particularly HIV-positive expectant mothers. In 2013, the unemployment rate in the UK reached 8.3% of the working class, which meant that there were more than 1 million unemployed youths (RITCHIE, 2014, p. 79). In fact, wages and savings devalued quickly because of extreme inflation that saw an equally extreme rise in the cost of basic needs and services such as food, energy, and transport. The UK felt ramification of increasing inflation and equally by people living on lower wages. The Institute for Fiscal Studies discovered that rates of inflation were especially high for commodities that comprise a big proportion of low-wage household consumption (WILKINSON and PICKETT, 2006, p. 1128). IV. Assessment of Competing Accounts for Inequalities of Health Outcomes in the contemporary UK There is a complicated relationship between housing and health inequalities in the UK. This relationship competitively explains the odds of a child born into a wealthy family living longer than one born into a socio-economically deprived background. The quality of housing, availability of local healthcare facilities, and security of housing activities on pivotal for decent physical and psychological well-being (Joachim, 2012, p. 5). Deprived housing conditions can cause many physical and psychological issues that lead to avoidable hospital admissions, compel longer than usual essential hospital admittances, and eventually result in death. Study findings demonstrate particular relations between the private housing and several mortality and morbidity pointers. For instance, severe winter deaths are nearly thrice more likely to occur in the coldest sector of the housing arrangement than in the warmest one (Smith and Eltanani, 2015, p. 9). Children residing incomes with heaters are two times more likely to suffer from a range of respiratory conditions than children in houses with heaters. One in four teenagers residing in homes without heaters are prone to many psychological health challenges in contrast to one in 20 residing in warm houses (Blackman et al., 2010, p. 51). V. Possible Methods for Reducing Inequalities of Health Outcomes in the Contemporary UK A. Reduce Access to IV Drugs The RCN (Royal College of Nursing) is devoted to alleviating health inequalities in the UK and completely promoting its key policy goals. The RCN attempts to meet these goals by ensuring that the existing health reforms in the UK guarantee local Health and Well-being Panels, Medical Commissioning Groups, and Public Health England are held liable for eliminating all health inequality gaps (WILKINSON and PICKETT, 2006, p. 1127). The RCN recognises that approaches for decreasing health inequalities in the UK will not be successful if they do not tackle the widespread social and economic inequity. In effect, the Westminster administration has to acknowledge the relations between low wages for both working and jobless populations and deprived physical and psychological well-being (Smith and Eltanani, 2015, p. 14). B. Reducing Rates of Unprotected Sex Another method employed by Medical Commissioning Groups alongside the RCN is expressing concern for welfare improvements. For instance, the reduction of housing and disability allowances might be counterproductive for the health and welfare of UK residents or children susceptible to MTCTs of HIV (MELDRUM and BUCKMAN, 2010, p. 1983). These members of society often rely on the country’s welfare structure to sustain a source of livelihood and guarantee a minimum standard of health. VI. Conclusion A baby born into a home with educated and financially prosperous parents has a better chance of living longer without disease and disability than a baby born to parents who are not. This gap in life expectancy is an outcome of social and economic inequality in the UK. As a result, there is a need for the government and local authorities to assume different activities that address gaps in life expectancy amongst children born into deprived and wealthy families. Balancing the number of children from both poor and wealthy backgrounds who get access to treatments that prevent MTCTs of HIV/AIDS in the UK is imperative for the government. This significance points to the urgency of methods that can lower Inequalities of Health Outcomes in contemporary UK. References Blackman, T., Hunter, D., Marks, L., Harrington, B., Elliott, E., Williams, G., Greene, A., and Mckee, L., 2010. Wicked Comparisons: Reflections on Cross-national Research about Health Inequalities in the UK. Evaluation, 16(1), pp. 43-57. DORAN, T., FULLWOOD, C., KONTOPANTELIS, E. and REEVES, D., 2008. Effect of financial incentives on inequalities in the delivery of primary clinical care in England: analysis of clinical activity indicators for the quality and outcomes framework. The Lancet, 372(9640), pp. 728-36. HIGGINS, M., KATIKIREDDI, S.V., CONAGLEN, P., JONES, C., DOUGLAS, M. and CAAN, W., 2011. UK Public Accounts Committee report on health inequalities. 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