![]() “I would want graduate students to understand that these social and economic policies are the key factor in determining our population’s health,” Azami said. They’ll be shaping policies - from the amount of taxes people pay to funding for early life - that will directly impact the health of populations. These findings are concerning, Azami said, because graduate students studying policy and public health will likely be the ones holding positions of power in government and health departments. While some students mentioned the impact of poverty, it was always in relation to affording health care. Instead, students cited health care services as the biggest factor in determining health outcomes, followed by the influence of individual circumstances and personal behaviors on health. From nearly a dozen interviews, students did not mention these social determinants of health as a primary role in life expectancy outcomes. “There are many studies showing that even the healthiest among us are less healthy than ordinary people in other countries,” said Bezruchka, associate teaching professor emeritus of health systems and population health.Īzami recently conducted qualitative research for his thesis on what other graduate students studying public health and public policy believe is the reason for Americans’ poor health. These social determinants of health have sweeping impacts on the entire population even the wealthiest Americans can expect to live shorter lives than an average-income person in a peer country. University of Washington School of Public Health researchers Stephen Bezruchka and Azami point to upstream factors like income inequality, racism or social isolation as detrimental components to our health. While many people blame individual choices like diet and smoking, or limited access to affordable health care as the reason for poor health, research shows something different. Yet Azami says the root causes of these poor health outcomes are not being acknowledged or addressed. that gives you a life expectancy disadvantage,” said Youssef Azami, a graduate student in public health and public policy at the University of Washington. “There is something about being born in the U.S. This shorter life expectancy is true across age brackets, racial demographics and income levels in the United States.
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