As I have studied this relatively new area to
me, international health, one of the most fundamental obstacles to the
achievement of public health worldwide seem to be widespread ignorance against
the target disease. I think this causes an adverse reaction to some medication
or vaccination among the patient in endemic area and makes it important to know
about the ethnic and cultural background beforehand. Although “Education is
Ignorance” Noam Chomsky once declaimed (well… here the term, education was used
to criticize standardized education system), without doubt education is a way
to help people get out of their intellectual confinement.
According to Chomsky’s interview in his Class Warfare book in 1995, educational
system “…is designed to prevent people
from being independent and creative.”[1] However, education may
prevent people, or at least women, from obesity, finds a series of recent
studies. (I know guys, Chomsky meant educational system and here it means
educational status.)
A study, recently published in BMC Public
Health[2], found that women with no formal education who were
working in sedentary occupations have twice high-risk of central obesity, here defined
by measuring waist circumference more than 80 cm, compared to women with no
education working in agriculture. Conversely, for women with at least some
degree of formal education, here they asked interviewee any education including
primary (equivalent of elementary in the US), there was no such association.
Educated women in sedentary occupations were no more likely to be centrally
obese than educated women with agricultural occupations. The study used a
sample of 2,465 women aged 60 years and over who had lived in the Chinese Four
Provinces. So, more precisely speaking, education is a key factor in reducing
the negative impact of obesity on elderly women in low- and middle-income
country in Asia.
But similar pattern was observed here in
America. Recent new government research conducted by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention showed[3] that women in college graduates are
less likely to be obese compared to those with less than a high school diploma,
here obesity was defined as BMI of 30 or above and they used NHANES data.
Interestingly, there was no significant trend between obesity and education
men. One more lament over women’s misfortune in health context.
One more evidence added to previous studies
showing an inverse association between BMI and SES (socioeconomic status) [4].
This time, the researchers used a sample of 4065 women, ages from 18 to 45,
living in low-income towns and suburbs in Victoria, Australia. The study
revealed that women with higher education had statistically significantly lower
BMI value, while no differences observed between income categories. In other
words, education is particularly crucial for women’s health over income.
These studies tell us same thing and it
make sense because education level might be associated with one’s capacity of
accessing to more health information. But one final question: why not for men?
Even education cannot cure the men’s ignorance? My guess is because women are
more sensitive to their appearance and highly educated women are more likely
affected by this motivation, whereas men are relatively dull about their
appearance.
1. You can see this dialogue from
chomsky.info, http://www.chomsky.info/books/warfare02.htm
4. http://www.ajhpcontents.org/doi/abs/10.4278/ajhp.120316-QUAN-143
Sorry guys, they open the abstract only.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.