Let’s take
a moment to reflect. How are you
treated? Not by your family or your
classmates, or your friends, but how are you treated by your government? Do they keep your best interest in mind? That’s what they are supposed to be doing
right? Aren’t they supposed to be
protecting you, our countries, and me?
Now, take a moment to reflect on the inequalities you face in your
country. Maybe you face gender
inequality or social inequality. Is your
government protecting from those things?
There have
been studies that show that links between socio-economic disadvantage and poor
health are well established. Factors
such as education, employment and housing are very complex but they greatly
influence health. For example, lower
income people are more likely to have unhealthy behaviors. These behaviors included things such as
tobacco use, physical inactivity and poor nutrition, and all of these lead to
higher rates of non-communicable diseases and earlier deaths, all of which are
preventable causes. These become a
stress and burden to the community, making it an unhealthy environment to live
in.
Radical
government cuts to things such as health care and other social welfare spending
in OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development) countries has
cause economic pain and has cost lives.
Declining levels of social spending are associated with risks of death,
mostly from diseases due to the heart.
There have been cuts all throughout governments. The US has had government cuts along with
Europe, Austria and many others. As the
government cuts more and more, we see a rise in suicide rates, more and more
breast cancer surgeries being delayed and cancelled and the rate of new HIV
infections is rising, along with the cost of drugs.
Now, take a
moment and reflect on all the information I just gave you. Think about all the job loses around the
world and the growing gap between the rich and the poor. Think about all the inequalities, from
gender, to sex, to political, to economic inequalities. If the governments keep cutting supplies and
means of work, how can people survive to live?
Not knowing how they are going to put food on the table and provide for
their family put huge amounts of stress on people, causing a lot of health
issues. Some can only take so much out
of their control before they do something they can control such as
suicide. Is this fair? Are our governments protecting us?
4:45 pm
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