Assignment: Exposing the Gaps—How Does the United States Compare in Key Determinants of Health?

When the health of a population is measured by various mortality indicators such as life expectancy, infant or child mortality, or the chances of surviving to retirement, surprising trends emerge. Health, as measured by longevity, appears to be declining in substantial segments of the U.S. population, especially for women (United Health Foundation, 2013). These findings receive little attention in most public health efforts or in the mainstream media, at least in the United States.

For this Assignment, you select health indicators used to measure the health of the U.S. population and contrast them to other countries around the world. You compare various determinants of health within different states in the United States as well as across continents.

To prepare for this Assignment, complete the readings and view the media in your Learning Resources. Install the free Gapminder Desktop tool and experiment plotting different health outcomes against various determinants already loaded along the two axes. Using the various health ranking resources provided, select two key health indicators for which the United States ranks lower than other nations.

The Assignment (3–4 pages):

• Provide a brief description of the two health indicators you selected, citing specific sources.
• Explain how the U.S. ranks on these indicators compared to other nations.
• Explain two factors that might influence those rankings and the relative standing of the U.S. compared to the other nations.
• Determine which two states rank the best and which two states rank the worst for those indicators. Describe factors you believe might contribute to those relative rankings among the states.
• Share any insights you gained or conclusions you drew as a result of making these comparisons.
• Expand on your insights utilizing the Learning Resources.

Week 2 Learning Resources

Required Readings

Wilkinson, R., & Pickett, K. (2010). The spirit level: Why greater equality makes societies stronger. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Press.

· Chapter 4, “Community Life and Social Relations” (pp. 49–62)

Bailey, Z. D., Krieger, N., Agénor, M., Graves, J., Linos, N., & Bassett, M. T. (2017). Structural racism and health inequities in the USA: Evidence and interventions. The Lancet, 389(10077), 1453–1463. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30569-X

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013, November 22). CDC health disparities and inequalities report—United States, 2013. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 62(3), 1–186. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/other/su6203.pdf

· Pages 184-186 are required; the remaining pages are optional.

Ruano, A. L., Shadmi, E., Furler, J., Rao, K., San Sebastián, M., Villar Uribe, M., & Shi, L. (2017). Looking forward to the next 15 years: Innovation and new pathways for research in health equity. International Journal for Equity in Health, 16(1), 35. doi:10.1186/s12939-017-0531-0

America’s Health Rankings United Health Foundation. (n.d.). About the Annual Report. Retrieved July 4, 2019, from America’s Health Rankings website: https://www.americashealthrankings.org/about/page/about-the-annual-report

Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). The World Factbook. Retrieved July 4, 2019, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

Review selected page below: Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). Country comparison: Life expectancy at birth. Retrieved July 4, 2019, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html

Review selected page below: Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). Country comparison: Infant mortality rate. Retrieved July 4, 2019, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html

Gapminder. (2017). Gapminder tools offline. Retrieved from https://www.gapminder.org/tools-offline/

Healthy People 2030. (n.d.). Foundation Health Measures. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/About-Healthy-People/Development-Healthy-People-2030

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Health statistics and information systems. Retrieved July 4, 2019, from WHO website: https://www.who.int/healthinfo/en/

Read the overview at: World Health Organization. (2019). World health statistics overview 2019: Monitoring health for SDGs. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/311696/WHO-DAD-2019.1-eng.pdf?ua=1

World Health Organization. (n.d.). United States of America. Retrieved July 4, 2019, from WHO website: https://www.who.int/countries/usa/en/

Required Media

Note:  The media selections for this course are viewable by clicking on the image provided after the media citations. After you click on the image, use the navigation bar at the bottom of the interface and choose the appropriate week. A menu of video and audio resources for that week will appear. Click on the menu item to begin that program.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Global health and issues in disease prevention [Multimedia file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

· “Health in the U.S.,” featuring Stephen Bezruchka, MD Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 5 minutes

Rutenbeck, J. (Director & Producer). (2008). Growing wealth divide is bad for health [Video excerpt]. In L. Adelman (Executive producer), Unnatural causes: Episode 7—Not just a paycheck. United States: Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved from http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/video_clips_detail.php?res_id=219

(c) California Newsreel, 2008. www.unnaturalcauses.org Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 4 minutes.