Why your zip code may matter more than your doctor: 4 key factors

Yet these disparities are just as pronounced within countries, where people in the bottom 40% of the income distribution have fallen further behind in many nations. In Chicago, for example, the United States’ third most populous city, life expectancy can vary by more than 20 years between neighborhoods just miles apart. Moreover, gender-biased social structures deepen these inequities, limiting women’s access to housing, education and employment and, in turn, undermining child health and survival.

To better understand these dynamics, clinicians are exploring potential relationships between their patients’ life experiences and their symptoms of disease. In addition, healthcare organizations are investing in screenings and research, as well as connecting patients to community resources to help address health needs beyond the walls of the exam room.

How social factors affect health

Housing, nutrition, education and safe outdoor spaces are fundamental requirements for optimal health. But despite their strong influence on health, access to these resources is unevenly distributed.
Where you live: The U.N. estimates that 2.8 billion people worldwide live in unsafe, inadequate or unaffordable housing, which can increase infectious disease transmission, aggravate respiratory problems such as asthma and worsen mental health. As part of its Healthy People 2030 campaign, the U.S. Office of Disease Promotion and Prevention and Health Promotion set a goal to reduce the number of households that spend more than 30% of their income on housing, commonly considered the threshold of affordability.
When people pay less for housing, they can afford other crucial needs. Children in families that receive housing subsidies are more likely to have access to nutritious food and to meet well-child standards – like as maintaining a healthy weight and reaching developmental milestones – than those on the waitlist for subsidies.

What you eat: Food insecurity is linked to problems such as obesity and diabetes, as many families lack access to fruits, vegetables and other foods that promote health. In Latin America and the Caribbean, where healthy diets are more expensive than anywhere else in the world, about 22% of the population struggles to afford nutritious meals.
Access to healthy food helps children develop properly, both physically and mentally, and is associated with a lower risk of chronic disease in adults. It also improves cognitive function and reduces stress; a 2025 study linked food insecurity to worsening symptoms of anxiety and depression.

What you learn: Educational inequalities parallel disparities in healthy aging, and a 2024 Lancet review of more than 600 studies from 59 countries found that each year of schooling reduces adult mortality risk by about 1.9%. The effects even carry into the next generation: A 2025 study found that the longer women—particularly those from disadvantaged groups—attended school, the more likely their children were to survive to adulthood.

What you do physically: In communities with safe parks and bike lanes, residents experience less stress, exercise more and enjoy a higher quality of life. A study in Wales found that people with greater exposure to green spaces were less likely to develop mental health disorders such as anxiety or depression. The U.N. is calling for universal access to safe and inclusive green and public spaces, but these resources remain out of reach for more than half the urban population, especially in Asia.

Social change for healthier communities

Because these factors play such a crucial role in health and longevity, caregivers and healthcare organizations are making them a priority. In 2024, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services began to require hospitals to ask about social drivers of health as part of all inpatient admissions, covering subjects such as stable housing and access to healthy food and transportation. The People’s Health Movement, founded in Bangladesh and now active in around 70 countries, campaigns to improve social factors that support health, such as adequate nutrition.
Governments and civil society groups also play a role in addressing disparities of access to care. According to a recent World Health Organization report, although inequities in maternal care persist in high-income countries, low- and lower-middle-income countries still account for 94% of maternal deaths. In Kenya, an estimated 16 women die each day from pregnancy-related causes, one of the highest maternal mortality rates in East Africa. Many of these deaths are preventable, rooted in a lack of access to trained staff and essential diagnostic tools. To address these gaps, the Lwala Community Alliance, funded by the GE HealthCare Foundation, is supporting sonographer training and the use of ultrasound machines to diagnose high-risk conditions during pregnancy.

“We must innovate with intention, because innovation without equity reinforces a system where geography dictates quality of care. And innovation without access can make basic treatment inaccessible for people due to barriers they can’t control,” says Karley Yoder, CEO of Comprehensive Care & Women’s Health Ultrasound. “That’s why our focus is on shortening the distance between patients and care—by training and equipping clinicians with intuitive, AI-guided tools that enable them to deliver diagnostic-quality imaging wherever patients are. By empowering healthcare workers with the proper tools and knowledge, we can help detect issues earlier, aim to reduce unnecessary transfers and design solutions that scale equitably across diverse communities.”

In Milwaukee, U. S.—where historically segregated neighborhoods have the highest rates of heart disease, infant mortality and cancer—the philanthropic program Powering Milwaukee Forward, a joint initiative of GE HealthCare, the Charles Antetokounmpo Family Foundation (CAFF) and the GE HealthCare Foundation, has granted nearly $2 million to 18 organizations that aim to improve access to safe and affordable housing, healthy food, quality physical environments, educational opportunities and maternal health.
“Changing outcomes requires collaboration across sectors,” says Abigail Epane-Osuala, chief culture and belonging officer for GE HealthCare and president of the GE HealthCare Foundation. “That’s the approach our GE HealthCare Foundation is taking as we tackle issues of access to health.”
Together, these efforts underscore a growing recognition that health is shaped as much by social conditions as by clinical care. By improving the root causes of health disparities—where people live and work and their access to opportunities—healthcare systems, governments and communities can move from treating illness to helping build healthier populations across the globe.
“The path forward is clear,” Epane-Osuala continues. “Improving health outcomes requires sustained commitment beyond the clinic and collective action across society.”