The Life expectancy of Americans has gone from almost 80 years to 76 years in the past three years. Homicide, suicides and drug overdose deaths are major drivers of this. Life expectancy in Europe is still over 80 year and has not decreased nearly that much with Covid.
Image courtesy of NPR
The graph depicted is from a report done by NPR and shows the life expectancy by year and by country. This report details the decline of life expectancy in the U.S. and the factors that lead into it. To read the article and view the full interactive graph, click here.
Secondly an article in the JAMA Network showed how the deaths of children under 19 have increased. Covid was only a minor cause of this. The article and graphs show that guns were a major cause, both through homicide and suicide. Other methods of suicide contributed as well as drug overdoses, although the majority of drug overdoses are in people over 19. No other country comes near to our drug overdose rate, even when adjusted for population. To read the article by JAMA Network, click here.
Physicians and other American health professionals like to show how advanced our healthcare system is, but due to these other factors, it is not helping people live longer. This information is becoming more widely known and Americans want to know why we spend more money on health care than any other nation, yet have the lowest life expectancy of a developed nation and our life expectancy is falling.
Churches can make a difference. Those who attend church are less likely to drink excessively, if at all, and less likely to use illegal drugs. Our fall conference will address past life trauma and its effect on health including suicide. Churches can help those with lifelong trauma recover and reduce the incidence of suicide. A belief in a loving God, forgiveness and other loving people can help reduce suicide although Christians still do commit suicide.
The issue of guns is something else. Our country seems to consider gun ownership as an essential aspect of freedom. We are paying an increasing price in deaths for this belief. Evangelical Christians often oppose any gun control. Could we support background checks and requirements that guns be locked up? Could assault weapons be stored at firing ranges and checked out for hunting? Do we really need assault weapons in our homes? I know of churches that support gun safety classes. Finally could we add these health crisis to our prayers in church: God give our country wisdom in dealing with the drug epidemic, suicide epidemic, feelings of depression and hopelessness in our teens and our fascination with guns and violence.
As members of the Free Methodist Healthcare Fellowship we can share the sad information and encourage our church members to be aware of this and pray for the health of our nations young people. . When someone says we have the best health care and are the healthiest in the world, don’t argue but share this information. Being aware of this is the first step.
Please e-mail your comments to normwetterau@aol.com to be shared in a future issue of our newsletter