Abstract
The current economic crisis appears to be the worst since the Great Depression. Severe problems in the financial sector have spread to the rest of the economy and resulted in falling exports, rising unemployment, government budget deficits and economic contraction in many countries. Research has shown a significant relationship between unemployment and poor health at both the level of the population and the individual. We can learn from the history of past economic crises in terms of the following: changes in patterns of health risk; differential impact of economic crisis on the health of more vulnerable social groups; changes in demand for health services, and thus formulate appropriate policy responses and strategies to mitigate the negative impact on health.
Highlights
The current economic crisis that first began in the United States appears to be the worst since the Great Depression of the late 1920s and the 1930s
Severe problems in the financial sectors of various nations have resulted in a “credit crunch” and this has spread to the rest of the real economy, resulting in falling exports, rising unemployment, government budget deficits and significant economic contraction as measured by a decrease in conventional measures such as the Gross National Product (GNP)
In the case of the National Health Service in Britain which is funded by general tax revenue, prolonged economic crisis would generate pressure to cut spending on social services such as health in order to reduce the size of the budget deficit in spite of rising demand for such services
Summary
The current economic crisis that first began in the United States (and spread quickly to other nations such as Iceland and Britain) appears to be the worst since the Great Depression of the late 1920s and the 1930s. Other pioneering researchers such as Catalano and Dooley and their associates have studied the impact of unemployment and its effects on mental and physical health [6]. Changes in patterns of health risk during times of severe economic crisis, e.g. alcoholism and other forms of substance abuse, domestic violence, suicides and parasuicides, malnutrition, immunization levels, homelessness, utilization of health services. We may witness signs of reduced access to health services such as drops in levels of immunization of children This occurred in the former Soviet Union in the late 1990s when its economic problems were severe, resulting in a significant rise in the number of cases of diphtheria [17]. Lack of health insurance is associated with delay in care-seeking and worsening of health problems in American children [24]
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