Sociology and health.pdf

1. Sociology and health
PREPARED BY
DR. VIPULKUMAR GAJERA
SNLPCP, UMRAKH

2. Socio Cultural Factors Related
to Health and Disease

3. CONTENTS
• Heredity
• Environment
• Lifestyle
• Socio-economic conditions
• Health services
• Education
• Income
• Housing

4. HEREDITY
➢A number of diseases are known to be of genetic origin, e.g. – epilepsy, mental
retardation, diabetes, cancers etc.
➢Genetic factors are also responsible for certain abnormal types of responses to
drugs or different metabolic patterns such as succinylcholine apnea, hemolysis
caused by antimalarials.

5. ENVIRONMENT
➢The environment directly influences the physical, mental and social well-being
of the human population.
➢The environmental factors range from housing, water supply, air, noise,
psychological stress and family structure through social and economic support
system to the organization of health and social welfare services in the community.

6. LIFESTYLE
➢Lifestyle denotes the way that people live, reflecting social values, attitudes and
activities.
➢It consists of cultural and behavioral patterns and life-long personal habits like
smoking and alcoholism.
➢Many health problems encountered today such as coronary heart disease,
obesity, lung cancer etc. are associated with life style.

7. SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
a. Economic status: Economic status determines the purchasing power, standard
of living, quality of life, family size and attention towards health care.
b. Education: Education greatly influences the healthcare status. Illiteracy
closely coincides with poverty, malnutrition, ill health and high mortality rates.

8. c. Occupation:
Suitable employment in productive work promotes health.
Job satisfaction is an important factor contributing to mental health and well
being
d. Political System:
Political decision and political will concerning resource allocation, man power
policy, choice of technology, environmental protection and the extent to which
health services are made available and accessible to different segments of the
society are the means through which the political system can shape the health of
the people in a country.

9. HEALTH SERVICES
• The purpose of effective health services is to improve the health status of the
population.
Example: Provision of safe water and healthy environment, immunization of
prospective mothers, infants and children etc.

10. EDUCATION
➢Education gives us the tools you need to make good decisions about your health.
People with more education are more likely to live longer.
➢Education also tends to lead to higher-paying jobs.
➢These often come with benefits, such as health insurance, healthier working
conditions, and the opportunity to make connections with other people.
➢All of these things add up to better health.

11. INCOME
➢The amount of money you make has an effect on your health.
➢People with higher incomes tend to be healthier and live longer than people with
low incomes. More likely to live in safe neighborhoods.
➢Access to grocery stores and healthy foods.
➢They usually have more access to safe spaces for exercise or other activities.
➢People with low incomes are more likely to live in a community of poverty.
➢They are more likely to face situations that can lead to poor health.
➢These can include unsafe housing, more challenges in getting healthy food, and
less time for exercise or physical activity.

12. HOUSING
➢ Where you live has a significant impact on your health.
➢People who are continually exposed to poor living conditions have a higher risk
of developing health problems. It is important that your home is safe.
➢Housing can contribute to your health when it provides you with a safe place to
be.
➢Neighborhood conditions are an important part of housing, and can also affect
your health.
➢A neighborhood that is free from violence, crime, and pollution gives children
and adults a safe place for physical activity.
➢A home that is close to grocery stores makes it easier for families to buy and eat
healthy foods.

13. Impact of urbanization
on health and disease

14. Environmental health impacts associated with rapid
urbanization
➢The effect on health of urbanization is two edged.
➢On the one hand, there are the benefits of ready access to healthcare, sanitation
& secure nutrition whilst on the other urban health hazards & risks are
substandard housing, over crowding, air pollution, insufficient or contaminated
drinking water, inadequate sanitation, solid waste disposal services, vector borne
diseases, industrial waste, increased motor vehicle traffic, stress associated with
poverty & unemployment etc.

15. The factors which influence the health status lie both within the individual itself &
externally.
1.Substandard housing & over crowding :
➢Due to low socioeconomic status (SES) the housing cond. is very poor.
➢Over crowing refers where more people are living within a single dwelling where
movement is restricted, privacy secluded, hygiene impossible, rest & sleep
difficult.
➢In general over crowding will lead to rapid spread of infectious diseases
especially resp. infections such as T.B, influenza, Diphtheria etc.
2.Inadequate sewage & garbage disposal: Lead to fly nuisance.

16. 3.Contaminated water : water borne diseases are more common like Diarrhoea,
typhoid, Cholera etc.
4.Vector borne diseases :This is found to be more common in poor people living
in urban area like malaria, filaria, Plague, Dengue, Scabies etc.
5.Air pollution :1.3 billion urban residents world wide are exposed to air
pollution level above recommended limit.
The effects are immediate & delayed.
a. Immediate effects : Acute bronchitis.
b. Delayed effects : Chr. Bronchitis, lung cancer, bronchial asthma,
Emphysema& resp. allergy.

17. 6. Motor vehicle accidents:
➢ Are more common among all fatal accidents found in urban areas.
➢Industrial accidents are also occur with increasing frequency because of
untrained workers from the urban setup.

18. 7. Psycho-somatic disorders:
➢Due to poverty & unemployment stress associated disorders are more common
among the urban people residing in shanty towns.
➢Duodenal ulcer, Bronchial asthma, Hypertension, coronary heart disease,
mental disorders, Social deviant behavior (Suicide, crime, violence & drug
abuse).

19. Global urbanization & impact on health :
➢Rapid urban & industrial growth is an important parallel socio demographic
phenomenon.
➢Nearly half of the world’s population lives in urban settlements.
➢For better employment, education, healthcare the more and more people are
attracting towards urban.
➢However rapid & unplanned urban growth is often associated with poverty,
environmental degradation & population demands that outstrips service capacity.

20. ➢In 1950, less than 30% of the world’s population lived in cities.
➢This number grew to 47% in the year 2000 (2.8 billion people), and it is
expected to grow to 60% by the year 2025.
➢The no. of people living in slums & shanty towns represents about 1/3 of people
living in urban areas.
➢In less developed countries urbanization also opens the door to ‘western
diseases’ like HTN, CHD, obesity, diabetes, & asthma.

21. ➢There are certain schemes introduced for urban development
➢ National Urban Health Mission (NUHM)
➢ AMRUT - Atal mission for rejuvenation and urban transformation
➢ Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal mission
➢North Eastern region urban development Programme
➢ Smart Cities Mission

22. Poverty and health

23. Definitions
➢Poverty is general scarcity or dearth, or the state of one who lacks a certain
amount of material possessions or money

24. United Nations
• Fundamentally, poverty is the inability of getting choices and opportunities, a
violation of human dignity.
• It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society.
• It means not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or
clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn
one’s living, not having access to credit.
• It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and
communities.
• It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living in marginal or
fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation

25. World Bank
➢Poverty is pronounced deprivation in wellbeing, and comprises many
dimensions.
➢It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services
necessary for survival with dignity.
➢Poverty also encompasses low levels of health and education, poor access to
clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and
insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s life.

26. Cycle of poverty

27. Indicators of Poverty
1. Poverty rate
2. Poverty gap
3. Poverty severity Index
4. Human poverty index
5. Human Development Index
6. Multidimensional Poverty Index

28. Poverty rate
➢Number of people in a community who falls below poverty line(BPL)
➢One of the most popular measure of income poverty
➢But it does not provide the intensity of poverty

29. Poverty gap
➢The poverty gap is a measure of the intensity of poverty
➢It is proportionate income shortfalls below the poverty line for all the poor in
terms of money
➢At present for India it is 4.8%

30. Poverty gap
➢Poverty gap ignores the effect of inequality between the poor.
➢It does not capture differences in the severity of poverty amongst the poor.
➢• For example: The poverty gap for both cases is same, even though the first case
has one household, with Rs 300 per month income, experiencing a more severe
state of poverty.

31. Poverty severity index
• It is defined as the average of the square relative poverty gap of the poor.
• It takes inequality among the poor into account.

32. Human Poverty Index
➢P1: Probability at birth of not surviving to age 40
➢P2: Adult illiteracy rate
➢P3: Unweighted average of population without sustainable access to an
improved water source and children under weight for age.
➢Not used now, it is being replaced by MPI

33. Human Development Index
The following three indices are used:
1. Life Expectancy Index (LEI) = LE - 20/85-20
2. Education Index (EI) = MYSI+ EYSI/2 2.1 Mean Years of Schooling Index
(MYSI) = MYS/15 2.2 Expected Years of Schooling Index (EYSI) = EYS/18
3. Income Index (II) = In(GNIpc) - ln(100) ln(75,000) - ln(100) {HDI} =
{LEI}*{EI} *{II}1/3
• Global HDI: 0.702
• Lowest HDI Niger country(0.337)
• HDI for India is 0.586 and its HDI rank is 135

34. Multidimensional Poverty Index
➢Developed in 2010 by Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative and the
United Nations Development Programme
➢Uses different factors to determine poverty beyond income-based lists.
➢It replaced the previous Human Poverty Index.
➢Generally used for developing countries.

35. Multidimensional Poverty Index
Dimension Indicators
Health • Child Mortality
• Nutrition
Education • Years of school
• Children enrolled
Living Standards • Cooking fuel
• Toilet
• Water
• Electricity
• Floor
• Assets

36. Thank you