Does poverty and inequality shorten life?

When talking about causes or factors that affect the longevity or quality of life of the world population, poverty and inequality are rarely mentioned, aspects that cannot be ignored among the most important obstacles for human beings can realize their full potential, but this could be changing.

Poverty and inequality shorten life?

A gigantic study in which 1.7 million people were evaluated and more than 30 researchers from universities such as Columbia, Harvard, King's College and Imperial College, both of London, confirmed something that seems obvious, but it is not, and that poverty and inequality are a factor as harmful to health and life expectancy as obesity, alcohol and hypertension.

The study, published in The Lancet , notes:

«the low socioeconomic level is one of the strongest indicators of morbidity and morbidity premature health worldwide.However, global health strategies do not consider poor socio-economic circumstances as modifiable risk factors ».

When analyzing the socio-economic data of almost two million people , they found that poverty conditions can shorten life expectancy by 2.1 years , in adults between 40 and 85 years old; a very large reduction compared to that produced with high alcohol consumption (6 months) , obesity (8 months) or hypertension (1.6 years) ; and just less than the reduction caused by sedentary lifestyle (2.4 years), diabetes (3.9 years) and smoking (4.8 years) .

Does poverty and inequality shorten life?

This comparison It is not capricious, these are factors that affect health and that the World Health Organization has been officially fighting for several years.However, despite the existence of previous studies confirming these observations, this international organization has refused to include the poverty and inequality as important factors that shorten life and harm health, and therefore should be part of the health policies of all countries, and of international organizations.

This study does not contradict other information on longevity in rural communities of Japan, the Mediterranean or South America that, although humble, enjoy good conditions environmental and nutritional information.Valuable information, but to some extent irrelevant when contrasted with the masses of human beings living in socioeconomic conditions of poverty and inequality.

Does poverty and inequality shorten life?

But this does not prevent when addressing the issue of poverty, whether it is managed as a political or ideological problem, and not of health.

The Spanish epidemiologist at the University of Alcala de Henares, Manuel Franco, who was not involved in this study, affirmed: " The evidence says that inequality kills.Are we interested in the health of the country, both that of the poor and that of the rich? This factor is not attacked because it does not interest ».

The study was sponsored by the European Commission, the Secretary of Education and the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Medical Research Council, NordForsk and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, and its objective is to change the position of important organizations such as WHO around world poverty and inequality.

Does poverty and inequality shorten life?

Silvia Stringhini, of the University Hospital of Lausanne and coordinator of this study, declared: «Socio-economic adversity should be included as a modifiable risk factor in local and global health strategies, policies and health risk monitoring».

Maybe soon we begin to see warnings at the borders and airports pointing out that it has been determined that poverty and misery can be bad for health, so it is recommended to look for prosperity and personal development.Fantastic that it will be possible to focus the proper attention on these problems.

If you are interested in the article, we recommend The wall that is worth it: the Great Green Wall of Africa, so that you know super interesting initiatives to reduce poverty.Also read the healthiest countries in the world.

Images: siddashi, Karsun Designs, Amir Farshad Ebrahimi, Peter Voerman

Comments

6 Things that only happen in North Korea

There are places in the world that seem surreal to us.One of them is North Korea, where things happen under the mandate of Kim Jong-un that seem to be taken out of a horror movie like the ones we tell you below. 28 haircuts In North Korea there are only 28 haircuts allowed, such is the dictator's control over such personal and unimportant aspects as this.Men have 14 haircuts and can have a maximum length of 4 centimeters.Single women should wear it short. Both the cultivation and consumption of marijuana is legal Curious, taking into account the strict and extensive list of restrictions imposed by the dictator in his country. Ultra-powerful leaders Citizens must believe, and if not more they pretend well, that the leaders have supernatural powers. Since childhood they are told all kinds of stories, away from the re alidad, with the aim of making them submissive and fully controllable by the system. One of the examples is that of the father of the current ruler ...

The mystery of the giant Siberian crater

It was in July 2014.A helicopter flew over the western part of Siberia, specifically in an area of Yamal, when, suddenly, they distinguished something strange.Something had appeared out of nowhere and seemed to open its jaws from a quiet white stage.It was a crater, a gigantic abyss 60 meters in diameter and about 50 meters deep. What was its origin? What had caused such a hole in the middle of that cold and desolate area ? The news then began to spread through the media around the world, awakening all kinds of theories, from those based on a possible extraterrestrial origin, to those of those who thought, calmly and serenely, that it was best to descend inside the crater and initiate the relevant investigations. We explain to you what conclusions have been reached. The crater that emerged from nowhere In less than Half a year, three expeditions were carried out.The first two were unable to provide objective data, since the expeditions that were carried out could not f...

So beautiful and fleeting. The Dutch Keukenhof garden only lasts 8 weeks

So beautiful and so fleeting, it only lasts 8 weeks... The Dutch garden Keukenhof , located in Lisse, between The Hague and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is a site of great tourist interest for simply stealing the breath of everyone who visits it.The beauty of the place and the enormous variety of colors, aromas and flowers that adorn it made it worthy of the title "the garden of Europe".Join us to know it! The Dutch Keukenhof garden There are two types of people in the world: those who dream of having a swimming pool at home, with barbecue included, and garden lovers who prefer-before the pool-have a large garden to plant and see flowers every day with the most charming nuances available in the market...sunflowers, hydrangeas, dahlias, daffodils and carnations! Vi ncent Van Gogh in Keukenhof But at least one thing goes hand in hand, although neither the flowers nor the gardening in general are of your interest, there is no one who resists the landscape that gives us...

6 facts about Einstein that you probably don't know

Many agree that Albert Einstein was one of the greatest scientists in history, but as with many famous people, some facts about Einstein have been distorted or forgotten over time , do you want to know more about this genius? Here we go! 6 facts about Einstein that you surely do not know 1.Its authorship on the theory of relativity was debated The theory of relativity was full of accusations of plagiarism by German scientist David Hilbert and his supporters, because Hilbert claimed that it was he who had first discovered the theory and that Einstein had taken all the credit .In his defense, Einstein I affirm that it was Hilbert who had copied some of his documents. At the beginning it was thought that every scientist had discovered the theory by his side, but that was until it was discovered that, in fact, Hilbert had stolen some documents of Einstein without giving him any credit. Einstein published his discovery before Hilbert, who originally submitted some documents...

Will there be a Mega Tsunami in Hawaii?

The possibility of a mega tsunami in Hawaii does not seem to be pulled by the hair, if we consider that most of these catastrophes occur precisely in the Pacific Ocean, and that in the last 12 years we have had at least 3 big tsunamis : the one from Malaysia in 2004, the one from Chile in 2010 and the one from Japan in 2011. Will there be a Mega Tsunami in Hawaii? If you are a reader from Science Daily Online and you live in Hawaii do not panic, apparently the possibility that a mega tsunami hits the Hawaiian archipelago in the next 50 years is only 3%, and this information is derived from a study of 5 years by researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM), which began just shortly after the 9.0 earthquake that shook Japan in 2011, and was followed by an even more devastating tsunami. The Investi gators evaluated the behavior of the different plates and tectonic faults that cause earthquakes and tsunamis in the Pacific, as well as the behavior of some large tsunami...

And you, also "procrastins"?

And you? Procrastines too? If you don't, we are sure that you know someone who does it continuously and that, surely, makes you despair.But what does this disturbing word really mean? Let's give an example: you have been dating a person for a long time, you make plans for the future, you have many illusions and projects, however, your partner never seems to decide.He is unable to formalize your relationship because something like that, not only overwhelms him, but even He is lazy. "Are we not well like that?" I often reproach you. Let's give another example: you may have the classic friend who never seems to finish his studies.It is easy to be an "eternal" university student who faces the responsibilities and anxieties of the working world. And what about people who spend all their time in front of a computer screen letting out "real life" ? Sometimes, it is much easier to let ourselves go, evading responsibilities, than to put means t...

Charles Osborne | The Man with the Most Hippo in the World

It sure makes you angry when you start having an attack of hiccups that you can't stop.Drinking water, giving you a scare and stop breathing are some of the most common techniques to try to stop the hiccups.Charles Osborne, it seems that none of these techniques to remove the hiccups worked...Today in Science Daily Online we tell you the story of Charles Osborne, the man with the longest hiccup attack in history .How much time do you bet? how hard? Find out everything below! Content Index Charles Osborne: the Man with the Most Hippo in the World As we told you in our entry on What is the Hiccup and what are the Causes of Hiccup, it is a way of breathing characterized by its urgency, by appearing suddenly and by the contraction of the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles.When we have hiccups, the glottis closes the trachea for an approximate time of 35 milliseconds, causing the famous "hip" that annoys us so much and that gives name to this condition. How long...

The Smilodon, the fantastic "saber teeth"

The Smilodon. Few prehistoric creatures are so beautiful and impressive at the same time, like this unique feline better known as "saber teeth".Experts say more than belonging to the family of big cats like the tiger or the lion, the Smilodon is more like a red lynx. It was simply beautiful, it lived along the American continent at the end of the Pliocene and became extinct 10,000 years ago.reason? Due to the climatic change of our planet.As the temperature rose, the large dams, the large animals that used to feed: mammoths, horses, prehistoric bison... The smallest animals ran too much and the Smilodon was not a good runner.In addition, he had to face predators more skilled than them, as was the case with the giant wolves.That is, the change of the derived ecosystems by general warming , I have just defeated these wonderful animals, which, without a doubt, we would have loved to know. The Smilodon (saber teeth), a fierce predator First we must clarify one aspec...

5 Signs that you are a pathological liar

We all lie, that's right, we do it to get away with ours, not to hurt others, to get what we want.However, when those lies go from small to changing lives, you're in a dangerous situation , perhaps dangerously close to being a mitomano. There are many authors who throughout history have reflected on the lie and numerous are the phrases about the lie that today are part of our cultural background.Without a doubt it is a very interesting concept and worth exploring, but first...Are you a pathological liar? Are you a pathological liar? Find out! 1.Lies are much more frequent You should know that when you start to lie about anything, you are no longer trying to protect someone's feelings, you are a liar pathological. When you get to the point where, regardless of the situation, you get an excuse to manipulate the truth, going as far as inventing complete stories to project a better image of you...It is a clear sign that maybe you should start worrying about your te...

Science Daily Online

Search This Blog