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POORER AND MARGINALISED groups in society are 70 per cent more likely to get some cancers.
The Irish Cancer Society and the Society of the St Vincent de Paul is warning that action is needed to close the health inequality gap.
Factors such as the level of education, income, employment and living conditions can all influence cancer risk and survival.
In Ireland, lung, stomach, head and neck, and cervical cancers are all more common in areas of higher unemployment and lower levels of education.
Men in areas with the poorest education levels have a 32 per cent greater risk of lung cancer than men living in areas with the highest level, while women have a 23 per cent greater risk.
Women in areas with the lowest education levels had a 66 per cent greater risk of cervical cancer than those in areas with the highest level of educational attainment.
Men in the most densely populated areas had a 53 per cent greater risk of developing head and neck cancer than men in less densely populated areas.
Professor Sir Michael Marmot, international expert on inequalities in health and director of the University College London Institute of Heath Equity said , “We know that half of all cancers are preventable by means of healthier living. But an individual’s ability to act on this information is shaped by social conditions acting through the life course.”
“If we are to have any hope of reducing high cancer rates among poorer communities, we have to recognise and tackle the social and economic factors which impact on people’s health. We have to make sure that everyone, no matter where they live or how much money they have, gets the same high quality cancer treatment,” said John McCormack, CEO of the Irish Cancer Society.
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While I’m sure this is a valuable study, reading the above piece gives us no idea of why poorer people get more cancers. Surely it isn’t much good telling us that living in a particular area or being from a particular social grouping causes more cancer without actually pinpointing what are the triggers are.
Smoking plays a huge part.
I think it is because wealthy people are less likely to smoke, drink excessively, have better diets and are more active than poor people.
Some people care more about their health than others, it’s really that simple.
A persons health is reflected by or dictated by a persons income no doubt, leave the over crowded A & E to the peasants whilst our betters have the best health(care) that money can buy. Welcome to the new Ireland. Sad.
Poorer people do not have access to treatment and of course there are the waiting lists.
If you read the article this figures have nothing to do with treatment, it says that poorer people are more likely to get cancer. This is most likely lifestyle reasons – more sedentary lifestyle, poor diets, drink more, smoke more etc.
Poorer people are thick. Hence why they are poorer.
Natures way of weeding them out
If you’re going to call people thick, you could at least use good grammar.
Money, it’s all about money, the great social divider. If you are not burdened about providing food, clothes ,shelter, medical care and have the means to pay for hobbies, holidays, entertainment and make lifestyle choices without considering how to finance these activities then your mental and physical health will improve in proportion to your enjoyment of life. In addition because life is enjoyable, you focus on your own and family wellbeing including access to better education, private medicine, programmes for your children which promote musical, pre school and after school activities. It is not rocket science why the poor struggle with life and die younger but the will to change how people can escape the inevitable is simply not there and since the troika now run the state, it will be generations before the links with poverty, stress and poor health will be broken.
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