Social Justice, Health Inequities, and Access to New Age-Related Interventions

This paper examines the "Hispanic (American) Health Paradox," the juxtaposition of Hispanics’ longer lifespan than the average American amid numerous inequities regarding social determinants of health. Hispanic Americans endure multiple health disparities with a higher incidence and prevalence of chronic conditions. They also experience multiple psychosocial and physical health challenges, including higher rates of food insecurity, poverty, segregation, discrimination, and limited or no access to medical care. Nevertheless, Hispanics enjoy better physical well-being and lower mortality rates when compared to non-Hispanics in the United States (Ruiz et al., 2021). This project aims to analyze the sources of this group’s biosocial advantages and resilience, allowing them to have a longer lifespan amidst their lower health status and increased risk for chronic conditions. It explores the political and social justice implications of these inequities. It also examines the strategies to close the gap on Latinos' current health care disparities via public policy aspects of federal and state legislature. A narrative review method was utilized to examine the existing literature on this paradoxical effect. Keywords based on Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) used to search resources for relevant studies included: Hispanic health paradox (health paradox, immigrant paradox), ethnic minorities (Latinos, LatinX), health disparities (disproportionate health, health inequities), social justice (healthcare stakeholders, health inequities solutions, inequities recommendations), mental health, physical health, and co-morbidities. A quality assessment of full-text peer-reviewed articles yielded 80 articles to compile this narrative review. The research revealed that, despite glaring disparities in social determinants of health, Hispanic Americans have overall experienced better health outcomes through a culture that emphasizes spirituality, community support, and strong family ties.

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Reducing Health Inequities Through Intersectoral Action: Balancing Equity in Health With Equity for Other Social Goods

International Journal of Health Policy and Management ◽

10.15171/ijhpm.2018.103 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 1-3

Author(s):

Maxwell J. Smith ◽

Daniel Weinstock

Keyword(s):

Social Justice ◽

Health Equity ◽

Health Inequities ◽

Education Equity ◽

Intersectoral Action ◽

Equity In Health ◽

General Account ◽

Equity Research ◽

Social Goods ◽

Significant Attention

Significant attention has been devoted to developing intersectoral strategies to reduce health inequities; however, these strategies have largely neglected to consider how equity in health ought to be weighted and balanced with the pursuit of equity for other social goods (eg, education equity). Research in this domain is crucial, as the health sector’s pursuit of health equity may be at odds with policies in other sectors, which may consider the reduction of health inequities to be peripheral to, if not incompatible with, their own equity-related aims. It is therefore critical that intersectoral strategies to reduce health inequities be guided by a more general account of social justice that is capable of carefully balancing equity in health against the pursuit of equity in other sectors.

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Glycoxidized particles mimic lipofuscin accumulation in aging eyes: a new age-related macular degeneration model in rabbits

Graefe s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology ◽

10.1007/s00417-007-0571-z ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 245 (10) ◽

pp. 1475-1485 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Tsutomu Yasukawa ◽

Peter Wiedemann ◽

Stefan Hoffmann ◽

Johannes Kacza ◽

Wolfram Eichler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Macular Degeneration ◽

New Age ◽

Age Related Macular Degeneration ◽

Lipofuscin Accumulation ◽

Age Related

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New Age-related Macular Degeneration Injectables

European Ophthalmic Review ◽

10.17925/eor.2020.14.1.17 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 17

Author(s):

Aamir A Aziz ◽

Fawwaz A Siddiqui ◽

Ibrahim Khanani ◽

Arshad M Khanani ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Macular Degeneration ◽

New Age ◽

Age Related Macular Degeneration ◽

Age Related

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Canadian Dietitians’ Understandings of, Attitudes Toward, and Engagement in Social Justice and Advocacy

Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research ◽

10.3148/cjdpr-2020-025 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Kathryn Fraser ◽

Jennifer Brady

Keyword(s):

Social Justice ◽

Positive Attitude ◽

Health Inequities ◽

Scope Of Practice ◽

Social Injustice ◽

Nutrition And Health ◽

Social Justice Advocacy ◽

Qualitative Survey ◽

Food And Nutrition ◽

Structural Levels

Purpose: To explore Canadian dietitians’ understandings of, attitudes towards, and engagement in socially just dietetic practice and advocacy. Methods: An online semi-qualitative survey sent to Canadian dietitians. Results: Respondents’ understanding of social justice and socially just dietetics practice highlights the unique ways that social injustice and health inequities may be addressed by dietitians. Overall, respondents had a positive attitude toward dietitians’ roles in social justice advocacy. Support for dietitians’ advocacy roles was highest for food-related concerns, but it declined for concerns with indirect connections to dietitians’ food and nutrition expertise (e.g., environment). However, respondents still had uncertainty and divided perspectives concerning if and how social justice fits within dietitians’ scope of practice. They also had concerns about barriers that they felt limit dietitians’ ability to perform socially just practice. Respondents shared efforts to engage in socially just practice at intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural levels. Conclusions: Dietitians could be a critical influence on the determinants of health. This research points strongly to the need for a framework for socially just dietetic practice and advocacy that delineates what social justice looks like across the array of settings in which dietitians practice and within the array of fora that dietitians advocate to support nutrition and health.

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Socioeconomic Health Inequalities in Europe

The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Health Law ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190846756.013.44 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Brigit Toebes

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Justice ◽

Health Inequalities ◽

Health Inequities ◽

The United States ◽

Legal Framework ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Human Rights Standards ◽

Socioeconomic Health Inequalities

This chapter discusses the role of law and human rights in socioeconomic health inequalities in Europe. Given that socioeconomic health inequalities are largely unnecessary and avoidable, it is widely claimed that they lead to health inequities (i.e., avoidable inequalities in health). Addressing health inequities is considered to be an ‘ethical imperative’ and a ‘matter of social justice’. Human rights standards provide a moral and legal framework for assessing matters of social justice, including socioeconomic health inequalities. This chapter analyses how the main European organizations (EU and Council of Europe) address health inequalities. Specific attention is paid to the role of human rights law as a tool that may give support and priority to improving health and reducing inequities. By way of explaining how social determinants are addressed at the domestic level, the chapter discusses (the approaches to) socioeconomic health inequalities in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The chapter establishes that while not as dramatic as in the United States, socioeconomic health inequalities are a reality in Europe, and that inequalities have widened both between and within European countries. It concludes that reducing health inequalities should be a key priority in European and domestic health policy, and that human rights law plays an important role in informing what needs to be done.

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