Unnatural Causes That Affect Our Health - Essay Example

Despite America having a lot of funds set aside for medical care, it is still falling behind when it comes to its citizens' health. Despite having spent around two trillion dollars on medical care, which is statistically almost half of all the money spent on health globally, Americans still live shorter, more often than not sicker lives compared to any other industrialized state. The United States of America ranks thirtieth in the life expectancy, with a big percentage of the deaths being that of children under the age of one. He question that begs is, just what causes the medical and health reports to come out negative despite having all the advantages in the world, where does the lack of balance come in, and how does it affect the American citizens, is the lack of balance the ultimate problem?

The documentary suggests that lack of proper medical health is not the cause of poor health, poor Lifestyle, and co-existing practices among people of different races of class (Unnatural Causes - Is Inequality Making Us Sick, n.d.). There are about 47 million Americans who have no health insurance cover. This might contribute to worsening the situation once a person is sick, but it certainly is not the reason for the bad records. This film is different from other film documentaries in health in that it narrowed down to details. Most research would settle for lack of ready medical insurance due to lack of medical cover and blame it on poverty. This film has taken its research to the bottom of the issue, to find out what changes and how that works against the people. It has explained why factors like race and how children are raised can be determinants of a person’s lifespan.

When a person is living in poverty, not having a steady income becomes a source of stress. This affects the overall health of the individual, which proves a theory I had, rich people are likely to live longer, healthier lives. The most surprising thing in the film for me was the fact that racial discrimination has contributed to shortening the overall lifespan of an African-American man or woman. The scene that inspired me was the illustration given about the ladder (45:49). The illustration suggests that hierarchy cannot be eliminated. However, it can be constrained in that even the people at the bottom of the hierarchy can still access the facilities they need.

After watching this film, I would like to follow up on the fact that unlike popular opinion, the highest population of the poor is of the white race. Most people might be under the impression that the black communities are at the bottom of the hierarchy, but that's not the case. I would love to understand what these neighborhoods are, the challenges they face, and probably compare them to the challenges the African American community faces to see whether they are issues related to poverty, race, or both.

Places people live in is also an unnatural cause of the effects a person's health. There was a wide range of public investments that went to the development of the suburbs. These were made possible by issuing loans with low interest to enable the people to settle in these suburbs. These loans were not accessible for the African American families of other minority races. his naturally pushes these other races from the suburbs, restricting the areas for white communities. The areas that the African American families did manage to live in, the white people would move out, areas living people of minorities would be areas without enough people or money to take risks. Businesses are not set up in such neighborhoods.

Consequently, the people not lucky enough to live in the suburbs are at a great disadvantage. Without access to loans owning homes for these communities becomes impossible. Research from this documentary shows that the people who grew up in a family where they own a home have longer life spans than those who did not. If this is anything to go by, the decision to restrict the loans only to the white race was an executive decision to give the white race an upper hand and longer life span.

What I find disturbing as far as the places people live is how they came to be. The system is founded on so much hate and oppression for the minority races. Efforts, from the government, from individuals, form investors to discriminate against the minorities, deliberately shows how the neighborhoods of the poor came to be formed. A uniform conclusion can be drawn; the people born to a poor community are not at fault. It is nobody's fault that they were born black or brown; it was an intentional system that was designed to undermine their existence and space they occupy in the United States. These setups have come to become a problem to this day since these neighborhoods are still set up the same way. People who live in better, more secure neighborhoods and own their homes have a longer lifespan than their counterparts who survive without a permanent home.

When the bough breaks refer to when the strong African American woman who is considered strong is not so strong anymore, research shows that women who struggle to make a living are less healthy, those not struggling seem to be in a better position. A case emerges though, where an African American woman delivers and baby that is weakling, despite being in the bracket that is supposed to be doing well. Further research showed that the chances of an average white woman born in America give birth to an unhealthy infant almost the same as those of a woman of African descent. The chances of an African American mother to give birth to an unhealthy child are significantly higher. The carried out research suggests that the effects that the African American woman faces concerning race affected her so much throughout the childhood that it affects the children she brings forth.

From the essay above, it is obvious that the health of an individual is affected by a lot of factors. While health insurance, maintaining hygiene, and staying safe are ways of avoiding health, creating a conducive environment for everyone is very important. People need to understand that racism affects the people discriminated against more than they will know; it’s just an outburst, but to the person attacked, it's a permanent mark of pain. The environments that people grow up in influence their overall health. With this information, maybe the system can adjust to be accommodative and ensure that everyone has a fair chance at living life to the maximum.