Citizenship And Health
Citizenship can be described as the obligations, duties and rights of an individual. In the modern days, citizenship is said to be related to equality, enhancement of human dignity and observance of human rights. It involves the practice of democratic as well as universalistic rights in relation to political and social participation regardless of an individual’s ethnicity, sex, creed or even race.
Health is a right for every person and hence should be equally accessible to all people regardless of age, ethnicity or even social status. This unfortunately is not the case. The levels of inequality in the access to good health and health services are rampant all over the globe with a person’s access to good health being highly determined by that person’s economic status such that the higher the individual’s social class, the more accessible quality health care becomes. A major key and complex issue is that of ensuring equality in accessing a primary systems of health care to all those who require them. Access is the ability of a community or individual to easily use suitable and necessary services in relation to their various needs .Other than access, inequality in health can also be in terms of the safety, quality and sufficiency of medical services available (Harris and Roland, 2004).
According to a 2001 survey by the Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy that studied the level of inequality in accessing health care in 5 countries namely Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States of America and Canada, there is a wide differences in access to medical care and services between the high and low income earners in the United States. The disparities in terms of income were however lower in UK and in Australia. Income disparities in Canada and New Zealand greatly influenced services that the national systems did not effectively cover. The study further showed that high income earners in Canada, New Zealand and Australia and greater access to private supplemental type of insurance that protected them from health access problems related to cost. Lack of insurance in the United States was found to have major negative effects on access to and quality of medical care sought. Income disparities in the United Kingdom had little or no difference in access (Schoen et al, 2004).
The achievement of equal standards of health in both non indigenous and indigenous parts of Australia is a major Focus that indicates the extent of inequality between the two groups in terms of health and life expectancy. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community is one of the regions in Australia where the Close the Gap Campaign is an example of a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) that has been formed to reduce this level of inequality. These Non Governmental Organizations and other organizations dealing with the enhancement of human rights are seeking the support of the government.
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