According to the Swiss Federal Constitution (Art. 2 para. 3 BV), the Swiss Confederation ensures the greatest possible equality of opportunity among its citizens. Switzerland has an exemplary healthcare system internationally, which is conducive to a fair distribution of opportunities for good health. Health equity is a key objective of health policy and means that as many people as possible have the same opportunities to develop, maintain and, if necessary, restore their health. But is this really the case?
(red) At all stages of life, people are exposed to risks that can have a negative impact on their health. Scientific studies show that individual people’s resources for coping with risk are unevenly distributed. “Poverty makes you ill” and “Illness makes you poor” succinctly describe the often unfavorable interaction between the social determinants of health on the one hand and health behavior and health status on the other. In addition to the classic social determinants such as education, occupation and income, gender, marital status, migration background and mental health also have an impact on how people deal with health risks. What is the state of health equity in Switzerland? Although life expectancy in Switzerland is high, it can vary considerably. The lower the socio-economic status (SES) in a municipality or neighborhood, the lower the life expectancy. In Bern and Lausanne, for example, men in neighborhoods with a low SES die on average 4.5 years earlier and women 2.5 years earlier than in neighborhoods with a high SES. There are also differences in terms of physical activity. More than two thirds of the Swiss population are intensively physically active at least twice a week in their leisure time. People with a higher income or higher level of education are more physically active than those with a lower income or lower level of education. With regard to oncology, the risk of developing lung cancer is six times higher in people with lower incomes than in people with higher incomes. This is consistent with the finding that more than 75% of people who rate their state of health as “very good”, i.e. who have a very good self-reported quality of life, are non-smokers. Most years of life are lost to cancer due to death before the age of 70. The direct costs of cancer (e.g. drugs, treatments), estimated at CHF 3.8 billion, account for 6.6% of total costs. Women are the most likely to develop and die from breast cancer. Men, on the other hand, are most frequently diagnosed with prostate cancer, but die most frequently from lung cancer. There is also a correlation between the risk of dying from cancer and the level of education. Men with a low level of education are twice as likely to die of cancer than men with a high level of education.
Source: https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home/zahlen-und-statistiken/zahlen-fakten-zu-chancengleichheit.html (last accessed on 10.04.2024)
InFo ONKOLOGIE & HÄMATOLOGIE 2024; 12(2): 44 (published on 15.5.24, ahead of print)
