Saturday, September 26, 2009

Personal Responsibility

Plainly demographics and cultural factors play a significant role. We also see this playing out within the U.S. Consider this data from Harvard researchers that found very different health outcomes for different demographics. Reasons for the discrepancies?
The differences were attributed to a combination of injuries and such preventable risk factors as smoking, alcohol, obesity, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, diet and physical inactivity -- particularly among people from 15 years to 59 years of age. They were not due to income, insurance, infant mortality, AIDS or violence, said the study's lead investigator, Christopher J.L. Murray, director of the Harvard Initiative for Global Health.
The best way to improve health outcomes is to improve behavior. But that not only undermines the life expectancy argument, but also demonstrates the need for personal responsibility rather than collectivist action.