Factors Likely to Influence Current and Future Patterns of Health in the UK

Discuss the factors likely to influence current and future patterns of health in the UK There are many factors that are likely to influence current health and could carry on influencing patterns of health in the UK. Some of the factors that could this are: * Socio-economic

* Environmental
* Genetic
* Lifestyle
Socio-economic Factors
There are many socio-economic factors that are likely to influence current health. If people are living in poor housing conditions which could mean that their health might not be so good, they could be given housing benefits to improve the conditions. If the area where you are living, the environment might not be very good, like the waste management could be bad. To stop this from happening, all the waste management could be recycled. In the urban areas, there will be easy access to health services; although this is a good thing, there can be a lot of pollution as there will be a lot of transport in the area. Whereas in rural areas, the area would be quite but you will not have easy access to health services. This would mean that if you are not well or needed to see a doctor, then you would have to go to a town to the doctors which would far away and expensive. To make it easier for people not to travel all the way to town to go to the doctors, they could provide doctors surgery in the rural area or could have a doctor that would be around the area all the time, like the district nurse. Environment Factors

In some areas the water supply might not be very good, to stop this from happening, they could be given clean water from the shops which could be provided from the council if they are unable to get the water themselves. Some people could be living in housing which are overcrowded and have poor housing conditions; this could mean that they could easily catch any of diseases. To stop this, they could ask the council for housing benefits to help them with some of people that are living in their homes. In the urban areas, the pollution can be quite bad; air pollution can affect older and younger people. To stop them from being affected by air pollution, they could move to an area that does not have a lot of pollution or could go to the doctors to speak to them. Lots of people could have trouble with accessing health services; this could mean that if there is suffering from a very bad illness, it could take a long time for them to be checked. To stop the illness from becoming worse, they could get the district nurse to come around or find out where the nearest doctors surgery is. They could also ask whether they could have doctors surgery built nearby, if they did do this, this could save time travelling.

Genetic Factors
If there is anyone that is suffering from any genetic diseases, they could have genetic screening to help them know where and what the disease. If you go for a genetic screening and know if you are suffering from the disease, then you would what measures you need to take to help you with the disease.

Lifestyle Factors
Lots of people’s diet might not be very good; this could mean that their health might not be very good. To have a healthy diet, people should be eating at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Lots of people are not able to have access to leisure and recreational farcicalities; this could mean that their health might not be very good. To have leisure and recreational facilities available, they could ask the council or could ask some people if they would be willing to start a place where people can go to leisure facilities. Lots of people smoke, to stop people from smoking they could use the quitting smoking to help them quit or could go speak to someone about it. Some people take drugs; this can affect their health a lot.

To stop them, they could speak to someone about it or could find other things to stop them from thinking about drugs. Possible ways in which the influenced could be managed to encourage better health From looking at the graph above I can predicted that in the next 26 years the life expectancy is going to increase. The reason for this is because there will be better technology around. People will start to know more about their health, meaning they will know what to do if they become sick. The hospitals will have better equipment which will mean that people will get better quickly. This will also mean that the machines that were used 10-20 years ago would not have been as strong as it will be now and over the next 26 years. There will be more advertisements on TV on how to have a healthy diet which will be helpful to a lot of people.

This graph shows that the obesity rate has a very uneven pattern. There is a small difference between the obesity trend of men and women. There is a sudden rise of the obesity rate in 2001 and then goes down suddenly.

From looking the graph above I can predicted that in the next 20-30 years the obesity rates will increase. The reason for this is because there could be still more places that sell junk food. There will be lots of people that will have busy lives which will mean that they will eating food on the good, this would mean that some of the food that they might eat might not be health. There could be some people that have busy lives which could mean that they might not have time to do any exercises and could mean that they might not have time to have a balanced diet.

This graph shows that is the next few years the smoking rate for both men and women will decrease. The graph shows that in 1972 there was a high smoking rate and then suddenly in 2009 the smoking rate dropped

From looking the graph above I can predict that in the next 20-30 years the smoking rates will decrease. The reason for this is because there could some people that might start to find out about more illness that could affect their bodies due to smoking. There are some ways at the moment where people are trying to quit smoking, for example using the quit smoking package. This could mean that there could more ways of trying to quit for example if you stop smoking for a certain amount of time you could be rewarded. There could be more advertisements on the TV trying to persuade people to stop smoking. I don’t think the percentage of smoking would ever reach 0, this could be because although there will be ways of trying to get people to quit smoking it might not help some people and might make them carry on smoking.