free online:

http://www.appstate.edu/~perrylb/Courses/1020/Readings/Bezruchka_2012.pdf

 

ABSTRACT

The health of societies can be measured by a range of mortality indicators, and comparisons of national parameters with those of other societies can be symbolic of health status and progress. Over the past century, health outcomes have been steadily improving almost everywhere in the world, but the rates of improvements have varied. In the 1950s, the United States, having among the lowest mortality and other indicators of good health, ranked well among nations. Since then, the United States has not seen the scale of improvements in health outcomes enjoyed by most other developed countries, despite spending increasing amounts of its economy on health care services. Trends in personal health-related behaviors are only part of the explanation. Structural factors related to inequality and conditions of early life are important reasons for the relative stagnation in health. Reversing this relative decline would require a major national coordinated long-term effort to expose the problem and create the political will to address it.

 

Several compelling reasons explain why medical care cannot by itself produce health. Our current understanding of the developmental origins of health and disease and a life course perspective explain much of chronic illness at older ages. As much as half of our health as adults is determined before we go to school.

 

Personal behaviors are also not credible as key reasons for determining health among countries despite strong beliefs in the United States (113). Studies suggest that individual health-related behaviors, although important, are not a significant determinant of health in the United States (65, 66).

 

From: Social Determinants of Health [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dennis Raphael
Sent: Wednesday, 21 March 2012 3:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SDOH] "The Hurrider I Go the Behinder I Get: The Deteriorating International Ranking of U.S. Health Status."

 

Bezruchka, S. (2012). "The Hurrider I Go the Behinder I Get: The Deteriorating International Ranking of U.S. Health Status." Annual Review of Public Health 33(1): 157-173. 

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