Reflection: Health Disparities

Michelle Horvath

Seton Hill University

 In 2020, the world was forced to essentially stop and shut down due to COVID-19;

Although our frontline continued strong throughout the pandemic. This pandemic opened more

than just working from home opportunities but made all countries develop a plan of action to

support their people and provide them with resources they will need, such as stimulus checks and

rapid testing. Just like COVID-19, there has been many of diseases and illnesses that have

affected individuals such as, HIV/AIDS. Comparing the disparities seen both in COVID-19 and

HIV/AIDS.

The fundamental cause of disease can have various factors that play into what can cause a

disease or what can cause a person to be more susceptible to diseases. Disease may be thought to

be cause by bad biology, however, there are many factors that can play a part like social factors.

Understanding what risks put people at risk for disease can help with prevention and have a

better understanding of what interventions may be more effective on the case-by-case situations.

To consider the risk is to know what global inequalities the person is currently exposed to. The

theory of fundamental causes created by Link and Phelan in 1995. They concluded the

fundamental cause has four features. Those fundamental features that were brought to light are

fundamental causes are fundamental, those causes affect susceptibility to diseases, affects access

to resources, and effects on health persists. Socioeconomic status is the fundamental cause of

disease especially gender, race, stress, and other social conditions.

 Health disparities are also known as health inequalities, which is when there is a

difference in society to who is receiving the resources, benefits, knowledge, and services. This

leads to an inequality of who gets sick versus who does not. This means that there is an

unbalance to the system that allows people to have the resources and services they need because

of social class, race, and other social inequalities. These health inequalities can come from

several factors, but it is narrowed down to the two most important factors. The first factor is the

difference in health behavior and the second factor is the differences in illness behavior. The

greatest disparity is social class. For example, this is a low income and low education for

someone. This person is at more of risk to have health problems, which can include chronic

diseases and communicable disease. The social class we fall under also affects our birth rate,

chances of becoming sick, and what happens after that person is sick. Some reasons to why

social class is the greatest impact and matters is because they lack the resources for improved

health, less likely to seek out a professional, stressful jobs, stressful life events, may have grown

up in a low-income family which affected their childhood, and they may have poor living

conditions.

Race and ethnicity influence health and disease because of the data that is

provided by various sources such as National Center for Health Statistics. There is a pattern of

African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans having worse health and typically develop

diseases earlier in life with more serious symptoms compared to other groups. Latinos and

Native Americans have increased rates of asthma, diabetes, and several health problems. While

Asians are healthier than whites but also have higher rates of hepatitis B and cancer. Even life

expectancy is shown to be shorter for different race and ethnicities. Although the pattern can be
inconsistent there are factors that help explain the influence of health and disease. Some factors

are social class, less adequate health care, diet and nutrition, discrimination and stress, racial

segregation, and biology.

Global disparities are the differing distribution of nations of wealth, power, resource, and

influence. These disparities have many consequences to its people and poses a greater risk of

disease or even death. Nations are divided into three categories based on two measures, Gross

National Product and Gross National Income. The categories then become high-income nations,

middle-income nations, and low-income nations. This has a great affect on the individuals, for

example is that person in a low-income nation where they are already at an increasing risk for

disease and a low life expectancy? This will change their risk factor if they are middle-income or

high-income too. Low-income countries have a lack of sanitation and clean water which means

there is more of a chance for someone to contract an infectious disease like malaria or typhoid.

Malnutrition in low-income countries is very popular and is not because of the lack of food

available. This is because of diseases they are exposed to that stop the nourishment of the body

and contribute to the malnutrition that takes place in these low-income countries. Another factor

in low-income countries is women have worse health and are the most vulnerable for disease.

They are often very poor and less educated, along with having to depend on their husbands or

fathers. Another downfall in the low-income countries is when they experience a natural disaster.

They are already at such a disadvantage before and then a disaster happens which may leave

them with little to no resources for themselves and their families. Their poverty starts to increase

even more. They may face issues such as not having housing, no public services, and much

more. The modernization theory basically says that some countries are wealthy or became
wealthy because they eventually adopted values and beliefs that helped get them into the wealthy

status. The modernization imposes that the low-income or less wealthy are where they are at now

because they never adopted those same values and beliefs.

In conclusion, comparing COVID-19 and HIV/AID disparities for individuals. For Covid-

19, African Americans and Latinos have the highest number of cases and deaths. Low-income

workers were more likely to be exposed and struggled with social distancing due to their

resources such as small homes and using public transportation. HIV/AIDS affected Africans

more than any other group by affecting 70%. Low-income or developing countries could not

read which made them unaware of the risks and how they would contract it. Just like COVID-19

the risk of transmitting HIV/AIDS was higher in low-income countries.

 References

Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. (1995). Social conditions as fundamental causes of disease. Journal of

health and social behavior, Spec No, 80–94.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, November 24). Health disparities. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved January 29, 2022, from
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%20are%20preventable%20differences,experienced%20by%20socially%20disadvantaged
%20populations.

Bibbins-Domingo, K., California, U. of, Fisher, K. A., & Krishnan, L. (2020, May 18). This time
must be different: Disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Annals of Internal
Medicine. Retrieved January 29, 2022, from
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Barkan, S. E. (2021). Health, Illness, and Society: An Introduction to Medical

Sociology (Second ed.). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.