REPOST: #5 Dr Stephen Bezruchka, MD, MPH: It's social & political factors that make populations healthy, not just healthcare!

There's been so much upheaval in our social, political & physical world that it's timely to remember what determines our health, which is not necessarily what happens in the doctor's office. This was one of our first shows, originally released Jan 2, 2020, because the importance of talking about how our health flows (or doesn't) from our economic structure. 

Dr Stephen Bezruchka, MD, MPH, teaches us that healthcare as an industry doesn’t inevitably result in a healthy population. In fact, despite spending the most money of any country in the world on healthcare, we are #36 in lifespan, just behind Chile. Dr Bezruchka peels down the layers of what creates population health, namely, how the health of a population is not just the health of many individuals together and dives deeply into the roles consumerism (including marketing, advertising and social media), and social and political structures have played in constructing our health crisis which can be summed by noting that only two counties in the world currently suffer from shortening lifespans: the US & Syria. Listen in to understand how we got here, why we are still here, how to ask the right questions, and some considerations (like nurse-new family partnerships) for changing our trajectory.

Notes:

· Book: Triumph of Injustice by Saez & Zucman: https://www.elliottbaybook.com/book/9781324002727

· Hawaii Department of Health Report on the Social Determinants of Health: https://health.hawaii.gov/chronic-disease/files/2013/12/CD_BurdenReport_FINAL.pdf

· Bill Moyers article on the intentional consolidation of wealth which has driven economic inequality from 2011: https://www.thenation.com/article/how-wall-street-occupied-america/

· Books: The Spirit Level and The Inner Level both by

· UN health of nations report and the “Health Olympics”: https://inequality.org/research/health-olympics-medals/

· The United Kingdom strategy for addressing loneliness & social disconnection:article: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-launches-governments-first-loneliness-strategy; the actual report: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/750909/6.4882_DCMS_Loneliness_Strategy_web_Update.pdf

· US Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health from January 2013: http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2013/US-Health-International-Perspective/USHealth_Intl_PerspectiveRB.pdf