Statistics on politics and healthcare

books:

	• The Political and Social Contexts of Health Baywood Publishing Company, 2004 - 246 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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Statistics on politics and healthcare

Written as a policy advice collection for the European Commission, this booklet, edited by Vicente Navarro, details in great statistical depth and solid political analysis the political contexts of public health and its improvement. Drawing from general research into the politics and healthcare statistics of many European countries plus the US, as well as more specific studies on the UK, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Germany, it establishes:

- That health is not determined by the individual's life, but much more so by society;
- Adding to the research done in this direction by Amartya Sen, that health statistics, such as life expectancy, do not increase by secular economic growth or improvements in average income, but by redistribution of resources;
- That rationing during WWI and WWII greatly benefited the public health, despite fewer resources being available in absolute terms, because of its egalitarian distribution;
- That poverty is very closely correlated to poor health (no surprises there);
- That within many Western countries there are quite significant regional differences in health terms;
- That it is likely that general decreases in social inequality improve the public health.

Given that this work solely relies on statistical research, it may be wise to be slightly skeptical, especially considering the rather arbitrary ways political scientists define political variables. Nonetheless, this book gives good evidence that inequality is bad for your health, and socialist politics is the medicine.

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This analysis of the political and social forces that shape the well-being and quality of life of populations in developed capitalist countries is written by scholars based in several different countries. The book shows how the varying political traditions in the developed world - social democratic, Christian democratic, conservative, and liberal traditions - have affected populations' health and quality of life in the western democracies. The contributors also analyze the public and social policies derived from each of these political traditions that have affected levels of social inequality (through changes in the welfare states and labor markets) and on health and quality of life.

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