scholarly journals Can inequalities in political participation explain health inequalities?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Reeves ◽  
Johan P. Mackenbach
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Health Spending ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Healthy Life ◽  
Inequalities In Health ◽  
Policy Choices

Inequalities in health are pervasive and durable, but they are not uniform. To date, however, the drivers of these between-country patters in health inequalities remain largely unknown. In this analysis, we draw on data from 17 European countries to explore whether inequalities in political participation, that is, inequalities in voting by educational attainment, are correlated with health inequalities. Over and above a range of relevant confounders, such as GDP, income inequality, health spending, social protection spending, poverty rates, and smoking, greater inequalities in political participation remain correlated with higher health inequalities. If ‘politicians and officials are under no compulsion to pay much heed to classes and groups of citizens that do not vote’ then political inequalities could indirectly affect health through its impact on policy choices that determine who has access to the resources necessary for a healthy life. Inequalities in political participation, then, may well be one of the ‘causes of the causes’ of ill-health.

scholarly journals Reallocating Public Spending to Reduce Income Inequality

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (188) ◽  
Author(s):  
Djeneba Doumbia ◽  
Tidiane Kinda
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
Health Spending ◽  
Defense Spending ◽  
Education Spending ◽  
Weak Institutions ◽  
Long Term Impact

Can a government reduce income inequality by changing the composition of public spending while keeping the total level of expenditure fixed? Using newly assembled data on spending composition for 83 countries across all income groups, this paper shows that reallocating spending toward social protection and infrastructure is associated with reduced income inequality, particularly when it is financed through cuts in defense spending. However, the political and security situation matters. The analysis does not find evidence that lowering defense spending to finance infrastructure and social outlays improves income distribution in countries with weak institutions and at higher risk of conflict. Reallocating social protection and infrastructure spending towards other types of spending tends to increase income inequality. Accounting for the long-term impact of health spending, and particularly education spending, helps to better capture the equalizing effects of these expenditures. The paper includes a discussion of the implications of the findings for Indonesia, a major emerging market where income inequality is at the center of policy issues.

Policy implications

2019 ◽  
pp. 163-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan P. Mackenbach
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Inequalities In Health ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Personal Reflections

Chapter 6 (‘Policy implications’) describes how several European countries have tried to reduce health inequalities. Even the well-resourced English strategy (1997–2010) has not reduced health inequalities at the population level, due to a combination of lack of evidence-based interventions and lack of scale of the efforts. Quantitative analyses of actually observed trends in European countries and of the potential impact of equalizing the distribution of risk factors show that reducing relative inequalities in health is almost impossible when overall health improves. It is therefore advisable to aim for reducing absolute inequalities in health, and to avoid overly ambitious quantitative targets. The book ends with a number of partly personal reflections on the sobering conclusions of 30 years of research, but also highlights some new inspirations for continued efforts to reduce health inequalities.

scholarly journals Social protection expenditure on health in later life in 20 European countries: Spending more to reduce health inequalities

2021 ◽  
pp. 114569
Author(s):  
Stefan Sieber ◽  
Dan Orsholits ◽  
Boris Cheval ◽  
Andreas Ihle ◽  
Michelle Kelly-Irving ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Later Life ◽  
European Countries

Innovative approaches to improving the management system in the sphere of social protection of the population

2018 ◽  
pp. 4-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Mahortov ◽  
Nataliya Telichko
Keyword(s):  
Management System ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Effective Mechanism ◽  
Foreign Experience ◽  
State Administration ◽  
The Social ◽  
Innovative Approaches

The system of social’s defence of population is considered as object of state administration. Basic problems in her structure are educed under the prism of foreign experience of the European countries. The ways of reformation and realization of state administrations of the social defense’s system of population in Ukraine and development of effective mechanism of its management are offer.

Voting Together

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Wong
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Saint Paul ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Skills ◽  
Identity Narratives ◽  
Hmong Americans ◽  
Hmong American

This book examines the political experience of the Hmong Americans immigrants, who first came to the United States as refugees of Vietnam War. In growing numbers, candidates of Hmong American ethnicity have competed successfully in elections to win seats in local and state legislative bodies in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. At the same time, average levels of Hmong American educational attainment still lag far behind levels in the U.S. population and high rates of poverty persist. Their relatively high levels of political engagement defy the logic of resource-based theories of voting, which explain a greater propensity of some individuals to vote resources available to them, such as higher levels of educational attainment or income compared to others Intergenerational mechanisms of social voting underlie political participation of Hmong Americans. Individuals are mobilized to vote through intergenerational social connections already established in associational, neighborhood, ethnic community, family, and clan networks. Identity narratives adapted to modern-day circumstances and popular notions from ancient oral texts serve to motivate collective action to redress of disparities of economic opportunity and cultural misrecognition. Only when local institutions effectively teach civic and political skills to immigrants and their descendants can political participation be sustained and deepened to combine voting with effective policy advocacy, the building of alliances across racial-ethnic divides, and collective action. The research included interviews of community leaders and grassroots residents from diverse backgrounds, primarily in three cities: Fresno, California; Saint Paul, Minnesota; and Hickory, North Carolina.

scholarly journals Exploring the local policy context for reducing health inequalities in children and young people: an in depth qualitative case study of one local authority in the North of England, UK

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor Holding ◽  
Hannah Fairbrother ◽  
Naomi Griffin ◽  
Jonathan Wistow ◽  
Katie Powell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Inequalities In Health ◽  
The North

Abstract Background Improving children and young people’s (CYP) health and addressing health inequalities are international priorities. Reducing inequalities is particularly pertinent in light of the Covid-19 outbreak which has exacerbated already widening inequalities in health. This study aimed to explore understandings of inequality, the anticipated pathways for reducing inequalities among CYP and key factors affecting the development and implementation of policy to reduce inequalities among CYP at a local level. Methods We carried out a qualitative case study of one local government region in the North of England (UK), comprising semi structured interviews (n = 16) with service providers with a responsibility for child health, non-participant observations of key meetings (n = 6 with 43 participants) where decisions around child health are made, and a local policy documentation review (n = 11). We employed a novel theoretical framework, drawing together different approaches to understanding policy, to guide our design and analysis. Results Participants in our study understood inequalities in CYP health almost exclusively as socioeconomically patterned inequalities in health practices and outcomes. Strategies which participants perceived to reduce inequalities included: preventive support and early intervention, an early years/whole family focus, targeted working in local areas of high deprivation, organisational integration and whole system/place-based approaches. Despite demonstrating a commitment to a social determinants of health approach, efforts to reduce inequalities were described as thwarted by the prevalence of poverty and budget cuts which hindered the ability of local organisations to work together. Participants critiqued national policy which aimed to reduce inequalities in CYP health for failing to recognise local economic disparities and the interrelated nature of the determinants of health. Conclusions Despite increased calls for a ‘whole systems’ approach to reducing inequalities in health, significant barriers to implementation remain. National governments need to work towards more joined up policy making, which takes into consideration regional disparities, allows for flexibility in interpretation and addresses the different and interrelated social determinants of health. Our findings have particular significance in light of Covid-19 and indicate the need for systems level policy responses and a health in all policies approach.

scholarly journals Aging and Gender Health Gap: A Multilevel Analysis for 17 European Countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Gómez-Costilla ◽  
Carmen García-Prieto ◽  
Noelia Somarriba-Arechavala
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Population Group ◽  
European Population ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Inequalities In Health ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Health Gap ◽  
Eastern European Countries

AbstractThe European population is aging and their declining capacity makes older Europeans more dependent on the availability of care. Male and female health needs at older ages are different, yet there are contradictory results on the study of gender inequalities in health among the older European population. The aim of this article is twofold: first, we study whether there is a general gender health gap at older ages across Europe. Secondly, we analyze the existence of an increasing or decreasing universal association between the gender health gap and age among the older European population or whether, by contrast, this depends on the type of welfare state. To achieve these goals, we use data from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) for respondents aged 50 and over in 2015, and we carry out several multilevel random intercept logistic regressions for European countries. Our results show that when we split European countries into groups according to the type of welfare state, we only find a significant gender health gap in older people in Southern and Social Democratic countries. Some differences have been found in the links between the gender health gap and age among European countries. Old women report worse health than men at all ages in Southern countries while in Social Democratic states it is only true for women aged 80 and over. In Bismarckian states there are barely any gender differences, while the gender health gap has no clearly defined bias. Between the ages of 60 and 79, men from Eastern European countries report poorer health, while after 80 it is women who report poorer health. In general, we found the widest gender inequalities in health for the oldest population group, especially in Southern and Eastern European countries.

scholarly journals The importance of addressing ageism in Swedish healthcare

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 113-115
Author(s):  
Katarina Sjögren Forss
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Significant Class ◽  
Care For Older People

Ageism is discrimination against individuals or groups based on their age. In the Swedish healthcare context, the term is uncommon, despite the fact that older people are a significant class of users. One of every five individuals in Sweden is 65 years of age or older, and the proportion of older people in the population is rising. Therefore, ageism in healthcare warrants more awareness and focus. In three recent articles that we have published relating to nutritional, depression and continence care for older people, we found indications of ageism even though we did not aim to study it. There is a need to identify the manifestations of ageism and label them, and to become alert to both the visible and invisible expressions of ageism. This will help in the development of interventions and policies to eliminate ageism in healthcare. With health inequalities growing and seemingly becoming the norm rather than the exception in Sweden and other European countries, it has become imperative to address and eliminate health inequalities through a range of initiatives and mechanisms. Fighting ageism in different settings must be a part of this larger goal.

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