It often appears that we Americans are obsessed with health. Media outlets trumpet the latest gene and drug discoveries, dietary supplements line shelf after shelf in the supermarket, and a multi-billion dollar industry of magazines, videos and spas sells healthy “lifestyles.” We spend more than twice what other rich countries spend on average per person on medical care.
Yet we have among the worst health outcomes of any industrialized nation and the greatest health inequities. It’s not just the poor who are sick.Even the middle classes die, on average, almost three years sooner than the rich. And at each step down the class pyramid, African Americans, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders often fare worse than their white counterparts. Interestingly, that’s not the case for most new immigrants of color. Recent Latino immigrants, for example, though typically poorer than the average American, have better health. But the longer they live here, the more their health advantage erodes.
We produced UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? to draw attention to the root causes of illness and to help reframe the health debate in America. Economic and racial inequalities are not abstract concepts; they hospitalize and kill even more people than cigarettes. The wages and benefits we’re paid, the neighborhoods we live in, the schools we attend, our access to resources, and even our tax policies all have an impact on our health. But social inequities – and their health consequences – are not natural or inevitable. Changing policies and practices can help improve outcomes and save lives. Other nations have already made such changes and now enjoy longer, healthier lives as a result.
We hope that UNNATURAL CAUSES ... will help you tackle health inequities by bringing into view how economic justice, racial equality and caring communities may be the best medicines of all. .
What are the connections between healthy bodies and healthy bank accounts? Our opening episode travels to Louisville, Kentucky, not to explore whether health cures us but to see why we get sick in the first place.
The lives of a CEO, a lab supervisor, a janitor, and an unemployed mother illustrate how social class shapes opportunities for good health. Those on the top have the most access topower, resources and opportunity – and thus the best health. Those on the bottom are faced with more stressors – unpaid bills, jobs that don’t pay enough, unsafe living conditions, exposure to environmental hazards, lack of control over work and schedule, worries over children – and the fewest resources available to help them cope.
But how do racism and class get under the skin? Experiments with monkeys and humans shed light on chronic stress as one culprit. Like gunning the engine of a car, constant activation of the stress response wears down the body’s system, resulting in higher rates of disease and early death.
Funded by a mini-grant from The Health Trust: Healthy Community Initiative, County of Santa Clara, Public Health Department http://www.healthtrust.org
UnNatural Causes - Trailer - a 5-minute clip that introduces the major themes of the series.
Information: Paul Woolley pwoolley@scu.edu / 408-554-4383
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