Dr. Nelly Kalu
With the recent change and political dynamics in Nigeria, it is safe to talk about social justice, its simple meaning and if or not it has any effect on health.
To live a healthy and fruitful life, one should understand that health starts long before an individual falls sick and that the environment we live and work in will determine how healthy we are.
For instance, an individual living in Japan is more likely to live much longer than the one living in Nigeria.
Taking a look at the characteristics of urban cities in Nigeria, Lagos for example, the likelihood of an individual dying from accidents is high because the policies and structures do not have what it takes to protect the people from such.
No proper protocol for dispatching emergencies, the traffic congestion would not even allow help to come in time, bureaucratic bottlenecks, just to mention but a few.
So, how does Social justice play a role? Social justice deals with fairness in the distribution of wealth, resources and how individuals are treated in the society.
Human rights and Social justice these days go hand in hand; you cannot mention Social justice without mentioning human rights.
Recent studies have shown that individuals falling sick or the incidences of diseases are influenced by society hierarchy .
Therefore, the poorer you are the more likely you would die from common illnesses. It sounds severe but this is the reality facing Africa and every other developing country.
It is safe to say that the reason this is so is that the rich have more access to recent and more advanced health care than any other social class that exists in society.
Now, this is not a motivation to increase your hustle in a bid to be counted among the elites, this is to create an awareness to the fact that people who live in developing countries like Nigeria are living in the worst health conditions not because the environment is toxic but because of lack of political will power by our leaders which have led to Social injustices and the violation of human rights.
Dr Kalu Nelly [OD] is an optometrist with over 10 years experience in the field of eye health. A social commentator and a health blogger. She writes from Abuja.
