Week 4 Response

Its articles like this that make me wonder why we so often focus on medicine as the means to health in the United States. We are constantly bombarded by commercials telling us to visit our doctors whenever we have a problem. We in the United States seem to have a particularly strong faith in Western medicine. However, given that it seems health outcomes are so strongly influenced by socioeconomic status (SES), it seems to me that this focus on medicine is completely off target. To really improve health our focus should be on discovering and rectifying the symptoms of low SES that lead to worse health outcomes. The causes are not always clear. Maybe those of low SES have less access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Maybe living conditions force them to live in environments of less clean air, leading to asthma and other respiratory infections. Ultimately, it seems that improvements in health can't be had through medicine. Medicine can only respond and treat illnesses already present in people. It can't improve their health by preventing them from contracting them to begin with. It seems to me that economics and politics are more important to improving health and health outcomes then medicine can ever be! After all, why focus on treating the disease when the possibility exists for a cure?