Health

What is Health Inequality?

Health is a concept that everyone has whether it may be physical, mental, or emotional. All aspects of health play a key factor in one's well-being but unfortunately, there are inequalities present that make access to quality health care quite the challenge. Factors such as environment, socioeconomic status, race, and gender play a key factor in a person's ability to access health care. It is imperative to recognize these factors so we can create a more equal health system. 

Who Does it Affect? 

Health inequity is the systematic differences in health outcomes. The main people who are affected by health inequity are racial minority groups, those of low economic status, underserved communities, and people who identify with sexual/ gender minority groups. Data show these factors significantly influence access to care and health outcomes. 

https://www.businessnhmagazine.com/article/pandemic-unmasks-racial-inequity-in-health-care

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p0502-aa-health.html

Health in the Dayton Area

Illness is socially patterned, who gets sick is not random. The environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age affect a wide range of health, functioning and quality of life, and overall well-being. Montgomery County is ranked 78th out of 88 in the state ranking of health outcomes and is not unfamiliar with a wide variety of health inequalities perpetuating this ranking. In Dayton, there are steps being taken to understand and lessen the health inequalities affecting residents. Dayton Children’s has addressed health disparities for many years but on October 3rd, 2021 it announced the opening of the Center for Health Equity focused on understanding social determinants of health and how they prevent residents, specifically children, from achieving optimal health. Beyond that, the Dayton Council on Health Equity has continued to work towards eliminating health inequalities by examining a large variety of contributing factors.


The Statistics below highlight variables that contribute to overall health inequality in Dayton and Montgomery County:


Poverty and Unemployment


Insurance


Physical Inactivity


Women's Health

Health disparities exist by sex and gender, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Women may have a longer life expectancy than men however, women have a higher morbidity rate (illness, injury, disease, or other unhealthy states) than their male counterparts. In Dayton, women face a variety of factors that lead to worse health outcomes such as period poverty and domestic abuse. 

Period Poverty

In 2020 there were 37,834 Dayton residents living in poverty. With this many individuals living in poverty, many women and families are forced to decide where to allocate their funds. This means people have to decide if they have the funds to purchase the necessary menstrual hygiene products for that month along with paying for food and other essentials. Beyond that, many individuals who cannot pay for period products end up using them for far longer than the healthy recommendation which can result in infections and a variety of medical problems, including Toxic Shock Syndrome In order to combat menstrual inequality non-profits such as FemmeAid, who partnered with Aunt Flow, were born. These non-profits collect donations and distribute period pieces to other non-profits in the Dayton area to provide individuals with the necessary menstrual hygiene products.  

Domestic Abuse

Domestic abuse does not discriminate based on age, gender, race, or sexuality, regardless of who an individual is, they are still susceptible to experiencing an act of abuse. In Dayton, the YWCA reports that domestic violence is disproportionately affecting black women. Domestic violence does not only cause immediate trauma and injuries but can also lead to chronic health effects that will follow victims for years. With the varying health inequalities already prominent in Dayton, victims of domestic violence may not have access to or the ability to take advantage of medical and professional health services that aid recovery both mentally and physically.

Statistics Regarding Domestic Violence

Rates of reported rape, physical violence, and/or stalking in their lifetime by sexual orientation

Black Women and Inherit Vulnerability

What is Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy?

Infant mortality is defined as the death of an infant at any stage before its first birthday. This data is measured by figuring out how many infants die for every 1,000 live births. 

Life expectancy is the number of years a person can expect to live this is calculated by finding the average of the ages of  all members when they die. 

This is an excellent indicator of a communities' overall health. 

Infant Mortality in the Dayton Area

Infant mortality: As reported by Montgomery county, the infant mortality rate is steadily increasing since 2015; affecting all demographics in the community. In 2019,  the county reported a total of 58 infant deaths, far from reaching the Healthy People 2030 goal of 5 (or fewer) deaths per every 1,000 births. 

According to the charts below, while Ohio is ranked 5th in infant mortality rates for both Black and White infants, Montgomery County records a huge disparity. For Black infants, Montgomery is recorded as 4th highest by the county while for White infants it is at the lowest ranking of 10th. This disparity plays into Montgomery being ranked second, only behind Butler, as the county with the highest rate of racial disparity between the death of White and Black infants. 

Infant Mortality Worldwide 

Infant mortality:  26.693 deaths per 1000 live births 

The three leading causes of IM are birth defects, preterm births/low-weight births, and sudden infant death syndrome.

In terms of racial disparity: 

(Both of these statistics increase with maternal age)


Life Expectancy in Dayton

According to Miami Valley News, your zip code can impact your life expectancy in the Dayton area by a staggering 20 years.

The leading cause of death for both males and females of all races in the Montgomery area is Cancer, followed by Heart Disease. 

Life Expectancy Worldwide

Life Expectancy: 72.75 years 

The leading threats to global health include Climate Change, Pollution, and Public Health. The World Health Organization estimates that 90% of people in the world inhale polluted air daily, causing 7 million premature deaths yearly.


Mental Health

Access to therapy and mental health resources is a vital source for the Dayton community that is often overlooked. According to Data USA.com In Montgomery Ohio, mental health workers see an average of 354 patients a year.  This exhibits that there was a 6.84% decrease from the previous year of seeing 380 patients. There are resources out there in Montgomery counties such as online counseling, school psychologists, and drug and alcohol rehab services, but mental health is a topic that is not talked about enough. This is hurting the Dayton community significantly, especially those from lower socioeconomic classes from West Dayton. Mental health is often not covered in many people's insurances and people from West Dayton often can't afford these services like residents from Oakwood, thus the mixture of not being aware and not being able to afford these resources is running this city's overall mental health.  This city needs more awareness on the topic of mental health and it needs to either be made more affordable or covered in people's insurance so people are able to get the treatment that they need. 



Physical Health

Environment: Your environment is a huge factor in predicting our health outcomes due to environmental factors such as the number of trees in your neighborhood, access to clean air and water, services provided in the community residents' access to groceries, proper infrastructure in living conditions, etc. In Dayton, the biggest environmental issue currently is water pollution. The main sources of water pollution in Dayton are the use of pesticides in crops/livestock farming, increase in land development, chemicals in factory discharge, and drainage from mines in the area the largest contributor to pollutants in drinking water is due to litter and pesticides from runoff.  

Groups to Combat Environmental Issues: 

Exercise and Nutrition: In Montgomery county,  27.9% of its residents are physically inactive, 35.9% are overweight, and 30.8%  are obese.  With many of its residents relying on food stamps and very few grocery stores being present, residents from lower socioeconomic status are at risk for poor physical health.  Fast food is sometimes the only food that these people can afford and fresh produce and vegetables are very expensive so residents with food stamps can't afford to buy healthier groceries. In addition, being physically active is very important to one's overall health but residents who are in the lower socioeconomic class (this is very prevalent in West Dayton), they don't have the luxury of having a gym membership and working out. Also, many of these lower socioeconomic residents have to work more just so they can make it by so there not going to have the time to work out or cook at home since they are constantly on the move. 





Emotional Health

Emotional Health is one's ability to think, feel, and how they can cope with life events. The Dayton community has had firsthand experience with traumatic events such as the shooting that occurred in Downtown Dayton in 2019, COVID-19,  and the shooting threats that occurred a month ago at the University of Dayton. This community has had to be able to cope with such shocking life events and having to constantly move from one extreme event to the next can be very detrimental to one's emotional health. Everyone needs time to be able to process such events and they might need to seek treatment but since this city has been constantly dealing with back-to-back traumatic events, it hinders the communities ability to have a healthy emotional balance.

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