Heroes Not Zombies

Research by Danny Dorling at Sheffield University has shown clear links between inequality and death rates.

Sure, there’s a kind of intuitive logic to the fact that poorer people suffer poorer health, but a slightly less intuitive finding is that the amount of social inequality (as indicated by the differences in income between the poorest and the richest) impacts on death rates in all countries, rich or poor. So, within any one country, when social inequality gets greater, mortality rates rise. Danny Dorling’s research has shown that this is an age dependent factor – he’s shown that the larger the inequalities in a society, the greater the mortality in people from 15 – 65 ie. people of working age.

there is an age related mechanism that results in higher mortality being experienced in societies where there is greater social competition, all else being equal. Higher rates of income inequality tend to reflect more competitive rather than more cooperative societies. Whatever the mechanism that results in harm from competition (or protection from cooperation), it has its strongest effects in early to middle adulthood.

One of his conclusions particularly struck me –

social inequalities as reflected through unequal incomes are damaging to health for those living in both rich and poor nations, and the direct mechanisms for such damage are likely to vary by area. Psychosocial stress is unlikely to be the only route by which income inequality damages health. However, the underlying mechanism may be similar—that, because humans are social animals, human health is best protected when people cooperate.

It’s that last phrase that really interests me. “…..because humans are social animals, human health is best protected when people cooperate”

It’s always been the case that the big impacts on the health of populations doesn’t come from the skills of doctors, or the power of drugs, but from the changes in the contexts of peoples’ lives. Education, housing, sanitation, food and water, and income are still the most powerful levers of power in the creation of health.

Yes, of course, there’s lots we can do as individuals. We can make choices about our own lives. And when we are sick individual treatments can make a difference, but if we want more people to have more health, if we want to reduce suffering from cancer, heart disease, mental illness and a host of other diseases, the big gains come from changes in these areas. How we behave towards others, whether or not we value competition or cooperation more highly, impacts on the prevalence of disease and on death rates in people under the age of 65.

One of the things I love about the net, is how it gives us a chance to build our links, to share ideas and thoughts, to encourage and inform each other. In short, to cooperate. And, well, who would have thought it, turns out that’s good for you!