No one is suggesting one over the other. We're simply stating that affordable
housing and "healthy communities" as well as lifestyle skills and attitudes are
interconnected and that's the main issue. They are not independent, they are
interconnected. If you empower people you give them lifestyle skills to change
their neighbourhood and act as their own advocates within the larger world. This is
not "victim blaming"! This is social, emotional and spiritual empowerment. I'm not
an economist or a community activist, I work with people who need the skills,
education and motivation to take on the system and change the system.
jl

Mukherjee Snigdha wrote:

> At a very practical level, I would also add that most
> marginalized, poor neighborhoods also tend to be
> unsafe, running around the block for physical activity
> in all likelihood would also lead to their injury or
> death! Further, most inner city grocery stores tend to
> have poor, high priced produce not to miss lots of
> fast food restaurants easy to get to when you don't
> have reliable transportation.
>
> Perhaps we can address lifestyle changes along with
> attending to economic infrastructural changes such as
> reliable employment, job training programs, better
> educational opportunities. In the meantime, focusing
> solely on individual level changes and neglecting the
> context in which they are occurring will only
> perpetuate the problem.
>
> Snigdha Mukherjee
> Health Behavior
> School of Public Health
> University of Alabama at Birmingham
> Birmingham, Alabama
>
> --- Dennis Raphael
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Lets look at the evidence.  Lifestyle programs are
> > ineffective, and when
> > delivered by middle class professionals to people
> > who are marginalized are
> > patronizing and demeaning.  This is nothing new.
> > Penfold stated this in 1979
> > and it has repeatedly been noted in the health
> > promotion, sociology, and
> > critical public health literature.
> >
> > Low income people -- when asked what they need to
> > improve their health -- do not
> > say help with changing their diet, exercise
> > regimens, and cutting out tobacco.
> > The want decent income and neighbourhood resources
> > to support their and their
> > families health.  These reuqests go unheeded.  What
> > is given instead is the
> > message that you are responsible for your own poor
> > health -- Tough luck!  Is it
> > any wonder that neo-loberal and neo-conservative
> > governments are so keen to push
> > out lifestyle messages.  Do we as health promoters
> > need to be complicit to these
> > activities?
> >
> > The bottom line is that if low income and other
> > people exercised and ate fruits
> > and vegetables until they became marathon athletes
> > they would still die younger
> > from a range of diseases since numerous studies
> > indicated that these behaviours
> > do not negate the effects of stress, deprived, and
> > isloated environments.
> >
> > Health promotion is about listening to communities
> > and enabling people to gain
> > control over the determinants of health.  Putting
> > fruits and veggies into
> > people's faces or getting them to run around the
> > block is NOT health promotion!
> > It is a means of gaining government support for
> > 'health promotion' programs.
> >
> > dr
> >
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>
> =====
> Snigdha Mukherjee, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Health Behavior
> School of Public Health
> University of Alabama at Birmingham
> Phone: (205) 975-8074
> FAX: (205) 934-9325
>
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