Inequality kills. Michael Marmot and others have been demonstrating this phenomenon for years, but somehow no politician seems prepared to recognise the science.
Now here’s another little snippet for the politicians and policy makers to ignore:
“According to a World Health Organization report published in 2003, life expectancy at birth in Canada is 79.8 years, versus 77.3 in the U.S. (Japans is 81.9.)
‘There isnt a single measure in which the U.S. excels in the health arena’, says Dr. Stephen Bezruchka, a senior lecturer in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington in Seattle. ‘We spend half of the worlds healthcare bill and we are less healthy than all the other rich countries.’
‘Fifty-five years ago, we were one of the healthiest countries in the world’, Bezruchka continues. ‘What changed? We have increased the gap between rich and poor. Nothing determines the health of a population [more] than the gap between rich and poor’.”