Social Determinants of Health in the UK and Any Other Countries - Assignment Example

New medicines and vaccines have been known to decrease the death rate, while improvement in overall behavior such as changing the diet or exercising regularly has also improved the quality of living. In this essay, attention will be focused on one particular country, the UK; and how other countries differ and are similar in terms of their social policies on social determinants of health pertaining to employment (Baldock, 261, 2012).

1. Comparison between the social policies in the UK against those in Canada in terms of employment
People with job security have an advantage; in that, there are both increases in health and the overall social personality of a person. Lack of employment leads to an increase in chances of becoming ill and early death. In the UK, policies have been formulated to cater to the employed and the unemployed. These policies have been formulated in order to ensure that there are lesser chances of unemployment, that those who are unemployed can still access medical services and that those employed are employed in secure places of work. These UK policies show resemblance to those in Canada, in that (Baldock, 266, 2012);

• There is the management by the government to oversee the reduction of the changing times of business in order to make sure that there is job security and that unemployment is reduced.
• Working hours are limited and have been beneficial in that there is increased job security.
• For the retired and unemployed, there are certain benefits in that their unemployment benefits have been increased in order to give them more income-based sources so as to access facilities.
• Setting up high standards of education (Baldock, 268, 2012).

2. Contrast between the social policies in the UK against those in Canada in terms of employment
The United Kingdom has policies that differ from those in Canada and to a more beneficial advantage. Policies in the UK ensure that the effects of job insecurity and unemployment do not come to affect the health of its individual residents. The main differences between social policies of the UK and those of Canada are that (Baldock, 350, 2012);
• In the UK, the government has gone a step closer to solving the health and unemployment issue by coming up with policies that support credit unions which are very much beneficial to them (Acheson, 68, 1998).
• Increase in social networks in order for all people to have access to medical healthcare.
• Having schemes help retraining in order to equip people with learning new skills so that they can be employed or re-employed and thus gain access to healthcare and reduce poor health, both physically and mentally (Marmot and Wilkinson, 104, 2003).
Such policies in both states ensure that there is the reduction of social and inequalities and also there is the increase of social cohesiveness. They also reduce social exclusion that results in high intensity of trauma and disquiet, leading to more illness. Since the health effects of unemployment are both psychological and financial, these policies ensure that individuals do not suffer from job-related illness (BBC online, 122, 2005).