Housing conditions, income, education and other social factors influence health more than genetics or the quality of the health care system, according to a new study by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Such social factors as well as disadvantage and discrimination determine more than 50% of health, according to the research due to be presented and live-streamed from Geneva on Tuesday.
It focuses on the "social determinants of health equity," defined by the WHO as "the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age and people's access to power, money and resources."
These factors were all found to exert a powerful influence on avoidable and unjust health gaps.
"Billions of people face a higher risk of illness and death just because of the conditions they are born into, such as which area they live in and the social group to which they belong," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO.
"Much of the global disease and mortality burden is preventable. Health inequity is not an accident: It stems from how society allocates resources and opportunities, reinforced by political choices and leadership, which we, as global leaders, have the power to address."
The more disadvantaged the region in which people live, the lower their income and the fewer years of education they have, the poorer their health and the fewer healthy years of life they can expect, reports the WHO.
It also cites income, racism and discrimination, loneliness, access to computers, conflict and displacement and social services as important factors.
People in countries with the highest life expectancy were found to live on average 33 years longer than those in countries with the lowest life expectancy.
The mortality rate of children under the age of 5 is 13 times higher in low-income countries than in rich countries.
The differences between rich and poor people also exist within countries, and in many cases, they have increased rather than decreased in recent years.
According to the WHO, the solutions are obvious: Economic imbalances must be eliminated, there must be adequate housing, public transportation, health care and social assistance for all people, conflicts must be resolved and discrimination must be combated.
Investments pay off financially: Healthier people are more productive and need less medical assistance. Doing nothing, on the other hand, is immensely expensive.
However, many poor countries have no money for higher investments because they are in debt. According to the WHO, 3.3 billion people lived in countries last year that spent more money on interest than on health and education combined.
