On Education and Disparities

Here at MH Blog, I've discussed on multiple occasions the strong correlations between education and health, suggesting that if we really want to improve population health and reduce human suffering, allocating larger proportions of resources to education is likely one of the best means of improving health.  This in turn highlights the idea supported by many SDOH theorists, that social policy is health policy, and vice-versa.

Though there is quite literally a mountain of evidence linking education and population health, it never hurts to have more, as a new study released in PLoS One demonstrates.  The study, authored by investigators from ACS and the CDC, set out to examine trends in inequalities related to education using national U.S. data.  The authors conclude that

"Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality are increasing rapidly due to continued progress by educated white and black men and white women, and stable or worsening trends among the least educated."

Social policy is health policy.  And vice-versa.  The evidence is there, and it has been there for at least 30 years (to the famous 1974 Lalonde Report (*PDF)).  It's beyond sad to me that (in my view) discussions of specific health policies typically exclude from the discourse analyses of relevant social policies.  We can (and should) do as excellent a job as we wish in more justly allocating access to care; but if we continue to fail at translating the evidence that education -- amidst other social and economic determinants -- is a powerful determinant of both population health and disparities into public health policies, I submit that we are unlikely to have the effect on population health that we wish for and that we ought to have.

(h/t Kaiser Daily Health Reports)   

Comments

[Michael Benjamin, M.D.]

This is especially relevant given Lance Armstrong's recent op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, criticizing, among other things, disparities in cancer diagnosis and treatment in underserved populations.
I recently posted an item on my blog about this:
http://interactmd.com/?q=content/worthy-link-lance-weighs-wsj

Thanks for the great perspective.