ID: 14169473

According to the Merriam-Webster, a community is defined as a group of people with a

common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society
(community.2016 .In Merriam-Webster.com).Though this is the ideal definition of a
community, in reality ,human beings have evolved based on the divisions created by factors
such as caste, creed, gender and religion. The community described in Unnatural Causes is
based on the alarming socioeconomic and racial inequities in health, where the community
tends to make behavioural choices based on the environment they are confined to; this has a
detrimental effect on the physiology of the body.
India, a developing country, has adopted a mixed economy system. Over the years it
witnessed a rapid growth of the seven metropolitan cities, leading to the development of
public transport, new technologies, water supply, electricity and infrastructure. I spent my
undergraduate years in a city called Mumbai, in Maharashtra, India. It has a population of 41
million. During my stay, it concerned me, how the income of the city was distributed
inequitably among the slum and non-slum population. It created a wide disparity regarding
literacy, sex ratio, morbidity rate, mental health and poor educational status. Summarised as
urbanisation of poverty - it proved to be an unwelcome forbearer of new poverty problems
(Martin Ravallion,2007 ).This trend, overburdened the family financially and socially,
affecting the future generation. Each day, as I commuted by the local trains, I wondered, how
the rapid urbanisation led to the weakened infrastructure of the slums. This progression
created an environmental problem of sanitation as well as gave rise to indoor air pollution.
The outcomes of respiratory diseases like tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis and asthma were
detrimental and increased the morbidity and mortality. While on the other hand, in the urban
cities, the scenario was quite contradicting. The high-income groups faced a high risk of noninfectious diseases due to the lifestyle and food habits.

There is a connection between healthy bodies and a healthy bank. The level of social class we
belong to, determines whether we get sick in the first place. The top individuals have more
power; enjoy the best of the resources. As one descends the socioeconomic ladder, they are
faced with stressors like over work schedule and fewer resources to support their family
needs, leading to worsening health. According to the opening episode, Unnatural Causes In
sickness and wealth -we travel to Louisville, where, according to the health department data
there is a 5 to 10 year age gap in life expectancy, as they compare the city rich and the middle
class working population. We can see similar results, according to the Human Development
Report 2009, India; an urban dweller of Mumbai is likely to die at least seven years before
other Indians. A collaborative effort by the urbanite to build new community health centres,
as seen in Louisville, is the need of the hour, to achieve health equity, irrelevant of the
socioeconomic status.
Secondly, I would like to shed light, on how the diverse organic agriculture, in India, was
replaced with globalisation, with the introduction of Monsanto genetically modified organism
crops. The farmers were made to buy the GMO seeds. After the seeds had become pest
resistant, they were forced to purchase the herbicides. The great reduction in crop value made
the farmers bankrupt and created a vicious cycle of debt. In 2014, the National Crime
Records Bureau of India reported 5,650 farmer suicides. Farmer suicide rate in India has
ranged between 1.4 and 1.8 per 100,000 total populations over ten year period through
2005(G. L. Parvathamma, May-June 2016). The Indian government policy decisions were
entirely driven towards creating inequality and driving our farmers to their coffins. The
government did not provide subsidies to the farmers during the drought season leading them
to develop suicidal ideation. This socially accepted trend proved to be a solution, to financial
instability (Patel et al., 2012).

Now, delving into the Unnatural causes Not just a pay check, when the Electrolux
Corporation closed down and moved to Mexico, it changed the lives of the middle-class
workers. As the unemployment seeped in, the rise in heart diseases and depression rose to an
excess death, in the next ten years. The risk to mental health, lead to substance abuse, suicide
or even homicidal thoughts. While on the contrary, in the series Bad Sugar, the government
began to provide subsidies, to the tribes of Tohono O'odham and Pima, which raised the
health problem of diabetics. With the laws passed to restore the water rights and with the
installation of dams, it paved a new beginning for agriculture. This initiative, lead to
community empowerment among the tribes of Pima and Tohono Oodham and reduced the
incidence of diabetes in the community. The Indian farmers need to be protected by a labour
union as seen in Unnatural causes -Becoming American where, Amador Bernal and his
extended family were protected by the union of the mushroom farm. Such efforts shall
empower farmers and provide better opportunities for a better future.
Lastly, even though, India is progressing towards a developed country, the women in India
face many challenges. In a country where Goddesses are worshipped for prosperity, wealth
and knowledge. On the contrary, over three-fourth of the women in the country are burdened
by the shackles of gender discrimination. Female foeticide is a discriminating form of
violence practised in the remote villages of northern India, where female infants, do not have
the right to live. Since the ancient times, when sophisticated instruments like
ultrasonography, was not invented, a female child after birth was killed either by burning her
alive, poisoning her to death, drowning her in a pot of boiling milk, as an offering to the Gods
or rubbing poison on the mother breasts. If the infant survived, the hypocritical uncivilised
men would sell her off, to the business of prostitution. The women were made to get pregnant
until she delivered a male child. She was traumatised and made to feel guilty as her in-laws
disowned her.

Moving on to the current Indian scenario, ambitious women often feel they have to
overcompensate at work since they are not a long-term resource and usually quit jobs after
marriage. These stresses have serious ramifications for India's continued economic growth.
Most working Indian women face workplace bias, enough to make them curtail their career
goals, reducing their ambition, or quitting altogether. External life events can change the way
our physiological system operates creating both acute and chronic health problems making an
individual risk to communicable as well and non-communicable diseases. Now thinking
about the contradictory video of Unnatural Causes -Is Inequality making us weaker, even
though an African American belongs to the high social class and strata, the factor of racism
impacts the everyday stressors of life and proves to be an indicative factor in premature birth.
As a public health professional, maternal and child health has always had a profound impact
on me. The wellbeing and survival of the poor households depend on the productive
contributions of their female members. My focus would be to strengthen post-primary
education since this will help eliminate gender inequality and educate women about their
sexual and reproductive rights. Women can be made financially secured, by providing
employment in small scale industries like brick making and water harvesting. This would
eliminate the gender gap in earning and reduce occupational segregation. Since such
programs, requires, the full active participation of mothers, I would visit the community
health centres and hold knowledge sessions, along with other health professionals. At these
meetings, mothers shall be encouraged to clarify any doubts or queries, which they might
have.
As future community health workers, we need to expand our knowledge on the health
disparities and inequity. We need to look beyond the political, economical and social
environment of a community. An intersectional approach to health care will help us bridge
the gap between the forces shaping inequities.

References
1) community.2016 [Def 1 d]. In Merriam-Webster.com, Retrieved September
25,2016,from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community
2) Martin Ravallion et al , New Evidence on the Urbanization of Global Poverty,
Population and Development Volume 33, Issue 4 December 2007 Pages 667701
3) G. L.Parvathamma ,Farmer Suicide and Response of the Government in India An
Analysis,IOSR Journal of Economics and Finance (IOSR-JEF) e-ISSN:2321-5933.pISSN 2321-5925.Volume 7,Issue 3.Ver .1 (May-Jun.2016).PP 01-06
4) Patel et al, Suicide mortality in India: a nationality representative survey, The Lancet
volume 379 23 June 2012 pages 2349.