Inequalities in the UK: Health Inequalities

Question 1

What are the main factors behind health inequalities

Answer 1

Drug use, Alcohol use, Smoking and Diet (Poverty can also be a factor/has a link to these factors)

Question 2

How much of an issue are drugs in the UK (part of explanation)

Answer 2

It is a massive issue especially in Scotland which has the highest drug death rate in Europe.

Question 3

A statistic about the prevalence of drugs in the UK

Answer 3

In 2022 it was estimated that 59,000 people were suffering from drug addiction

Question 4

(Analysis about Drug use and its effect on health inequalities)

Answer 4

Drug use can often be related to your own personal circumstances such as whether or not you are in poverty.

Question 5

(Analysis about Drug use and its effect on health inequalities) Evidence

Answer 5

A report showed that in 2019/20 56% of people who were in treatment for crack or opiates lived in areas ranked in the most 30% of deprived areas in England.

Question 6

(Analysis about Drug use and its effect on health inequalities) What does this statistic show?

Answer 6

This shows that being in poverty can have an effect on drug use as the majority of people in treatment for drug abuse were from deprived areas.

Question 7

A government response to drugs

Answer 7

The scottish government has been putting more funding into trying to solve the issue

Question 8

Example of a government response to drugs

Answer 8

In 2020 the Scottish Government invested £250,000 into addiction services to try and solve the issue.

Question 9

How much of an issue is alcohol use in Scotland + statistic about it

Answer 9

Alcohol use in Britain is quite a problem due to their being a drinking culture which promotes binge drinking which can lead to alcoholism. this is shown by the fact that Scots are the most likely to binge drink out of the whole UK (mention side effects in next line)

Question 10

What does this show (alcohol + health inequalities)

Answer 10

This shows that alcohol as a lifestyle factor can cause health inequalities as people who are drinking due to cultural norms are damaging their bodies and potentially drinking themselves to their grave.

Question 11

What does this show (alcohol + health inequalities) [give a piece of evidence]

Answer 11

The fact that scots are dying from alcohol use is proven by the fact that alcohol related deaths are almost two times higher in Scotland than in England which shows that it is a large contributing factor to health inequalities

Question 12

Counterpoint about alcohol + health inequalities

Answer 12

However, poverty can play a role in how much of a detriment alcohol use can be on your wellbeing

Question 13

Counterpoint about alcohol + health inequalities (evidence)

Answer 13

This is shown by the fact that health scotland said that there were 8x more alcohol related deaths in more deprived areas.

Question 14

Government responses to alcohol use

Answer 14

However, the government have been trying to prevent this from becoming as much of an issue by introducing new policies such as MUP which was introduced in 2018 and put in place a fixed minimum price per unit of 50p.

Question 15

Effectiveness of government response to alcohol use

Answer 15

This has been quite effective as since its introduction alcohol deaths have decreased by 13.4% which shows that these policies are having an impact.

Question 16

Why is smoking so prevalent in the UK?

Answer 16

Due to past beliefs of the older generations that smoking wasn’t bad for you which has lead to numerous people still smoking in the present.

Question 17

Evidence that smoking is a factor in health inequalities

Answer 17

This is shown by the fact that 16% of deaths in the UK are a result of smoking.

Question 18

Another piece of evidence that smoking is a factor in health inequalities

Answer 18

It has been found that smoking is the largest preventable cause of cancer

Question 19

Analysis point about smoking’s influence on health inequalities (linked to poverty)

Answer 19

However, smoking is more likely to become a factor in health inequalities when someone is in poverty

Question 20

Evidence of poverty’s link to smoking’s effect on health inequalities.

Answer 20

By 2021, 32% of people living in scotland’s most deprived areas smoked in comparison to only 6% of people smoking in the least deprived areas

Question 21

Counterpoint about smoking’s influence on health inequalities (linked to government responses)

Answer 21

However, it could be argued that smoking has become less of a factor when it comes to health inequalities in recent years.

Question 22

An example of a government response to smoking and it’s effectiveness in dealing with health inequalities

Answer 22

For example, the smoking ban in 2006 has caused the prevalence of smoking to drop from 31% to 21% in 2016 which shows that smoking has become less of a factor in health inequalities in recent years but is still present.

Question 23

Evidence of diet being a factor in health inequalities

Answer 23

This is shown by the fact that in 2021 over a million people in the UK were admitted to hospital for health problems related to obesity

Question 24

Why is diet/obesity such a huge issue

Answer 24

This is because of the amount of sugar in cheap foods that are readily available to the public

Question 25

Evidence of why diet/obesity is such a huge issue in the UK

Answer 25

This is shown by the fact that 3 year olds were found to be eating more than their own weight in sugar.

Question 26

What does this statistic about diet and obesity being such a huge issue in the UK show

Answer 26

This shows that it is a problem that is affecting the younger generations as opposed to just adults.

Question 27

(Analysis about Diet and its effect on health inequalities)

Answer 27

Poverty can play a role in poor diets which results in those from more deprived backgrounds suffering more from these health inequalities

Question 28

(Analysis about Diet and its effect on health inequalities) Evidence

Answer 28

6% of kids from affluent areas were at risk of obesity compared to 13% in most deprived areas

Question 29

Government Response to diet’s impact on health inequalities

Answer 29

in 2018 the government introduced a sugar tax which forced manufacturers to pay 24 pence per litre if a drink contained more than 18 grams of sugar per 100 millilitres.

Question 30

Effectiveness of the government’s response to diet’s impact on health inequalities.

Answer 30

This led to a 34.5% reduction in sugar consumed from the taxed drinks.