Early Life As A Social Determinant Of Health

Poverty is not simply a deficiency in material resources, it is the complex situation of low income that limits ones access to many of the social determinants of health such as safe and suitable housing, food, child care, education, and can lead to social exclusion (Séguin et al, 2012). The experience of poverty in childhood, particularly early childhood, has been linked to many adverse health effects such as low birth weight, increased incidence of asthma, injuries, mental health issues and obesity (Sharma & Ford-Jones, 2015). The impact of childhood poverty continues into adulthood, increasing the risk of many chronic diseases. Perhaps even

Health as a whole is determined by the quality of life, as well as an individuals’ ability to create personal positive social and physical environments. These environments include homes, schools, workplaces and the community as a whole. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2003), the social determinants of health are conditions in which people live, work, and grow, where these factors are influenced by money, power and available resources. There are five main aspects of social determinants: economic stability, social/community health, general health, education, and the surrounding built environment, where each determinant refers to multiple key issues. These determinants commonly affect health, the functioning of people, their quality of life, as well as social, economic and physical risks. Examples of social determinants include:

The determinants of health are economic and social conditions that affect people’s health status. These influence the living and working conditions that impacts people’s everyday living condition. Factors such as the place and the environment we live in, genetics, educational level or work status and income, as well as friends and family are some of the aspects that affects our health condition. On the other hand, the people that have an access to good health care and have financial stability are less susceptible and are often less affected. (NANB, 2009)

The relationship between the determinants of health and health outcomes had been thoroughly studied. In policies or programs to reduce and prevent health disparities, factors that contribute to the rise in trends are called the determinants of social health. It is equally important to recognize that childhood is an important time in which interventions can have a significant impact on health outcomes throughout life. (Dubiel et al, 2010)

The environment inside the mother’s womb can indeed have a dramatic influence on the development of a child but environment influences such as where the child is raised can have a huge affect on a child development as well. Children of a low income tend to live in more polluted areas, where the air and the water are polluted, pollution can cause brain development in children as well lung diseases that can be development in childhood or can affect them later in life. One the factors that can have a huge impact on a child’s life is housing. Those on a low income are more likely to be living in poor housing conditions experiencing stress from overcrowding including noise, lack of privacy, having to wait to use facilities such as the toilets, poor heating and ventilation in winter, poor washing and cooking facilities, the house can have many hazards for a child due to architectural features, dampness, as well the neighbourhood cannot be safe or have poor facilities such as shops and parking. Poor housing is associated with poor health this is due of poor facilities and opportunities, children that grow up within poor housing are more

There has always been a link between social class and health, even with the welfare state and the improvements made to health in all sections of societies over the years, a difference still remains in this area. This difference is applied to all aspects of health, which include life expectancy, general levels of health and infant mortality. Many people argue that as long as the quality of life is

The neighbourhood or environment in which someone lives can influence the physical, economic and psychosocial health outcomes of people living in the area. Social determinants of health as defined by the World Health Organization (2008) are “the social conditions in which people are born, live and work [and] are the single most important determinant[s] of good health”. This essay will explore the roles of education, employment and health literacy as social determinants; how they contribute to health inequalities in areas of low socioeconomic status. Often these determinants act as a part of a larger structure of multilevel determinants which can have a major impact on the wellbeing of individual and families residing in these areas. In

When analyzing children growing up in poverty a lot of factors come into play such as their physical, psychological and emotional development. To grow up in poverty can have long term effect on a child. What should be emphasized in analyzing the effects of poverty on children is how it has caused many children around the world to suffer from physical disorders, malnutrition, and even diminishes their capacities to function in society. Poverty has played a major role in the functioning of families and the level of social and emotional competency that children are able to reach. Children in poverty stricken families are exposed to greater and emotional risks and stress level factors. They are even capable of understanding and dealing with

Every society has a class whether that be lower-middle, upper-middle or high class. Differences between children that grow up in favorable conditions and those who grow up in poverty are noticeable around 9 months (Moore, McDonald, Carlon, & O’Rourke, 2015). The class you are in sometimes can have effects on your health and lifetime. This article Early childhood development and the social determinants of health inequities points out the indicators pertaining to children and families. It is said that poor children worsen in health as they progress while those in higher class improve.

Being born into a certain social class may affect your health drastically, a child born in the lower end of the social systems is twice as likely to die in the first few months of their life than a child born in the professional class (6). (See appendix1.1) The well being of a child is also at risk when born lower down in the social scale, their vaccinations and dentist visits are limited. (See appendix1.2)

The literature on environmental factors and their effect on health and life expectancy is extensive. Studies of mortality have found that childhood health and socioeconomic context are important predictors, often regardless of adult experiences (Motez and Hayward 2014). One study examines whether early-life disadvantages both shorten lives and increase the number of years lived with functional impairment (Motez and Hayward 2014). These early life disadvantages could be health, socio-economic, or environmental related. Within levels of educational accomplishment, adults from underprivileged childhoods lived fewer years, and spent a greater portion of life impaired compared with adults from advantaged childhoods (Motez and Hayward 2014). Higher levels of education did not improve the health consequences of disadvantaged childhoods. However, because education had a better impact on health than childhood socioeconomic setting, adults from disadvantaged childhoods who achieved high education levels often had a length of life that was similar to those from privileged childhoods who achieved low education levels. (Motez and Hayward 2014).

The main questions this article explores are: what are the measures of poverty and how does being “poor” determine children’s health and exposure to developmental input, as well as different experiences of poverty.

those at risk in the first three years of their life are usually at the heart of grinding social inequalities

A child’s political environment and natural environment can have many effects on their development through political and environmental influences on poverty. For example, governments can make inadequate and oftentimes harmful decisions including those that can cause or worsen poverty, natural disasters can cause someone to become impoverished, and childhood poverty is more common in those from rural areas.

There are many different cultures in this world where health, education, and political systems are  affected  by economic status and perhaps cultural tendencies. Cultural tendencies impact the way children participate in education and the success rate with  finishing and continuing on into higher education. Also, economic status of a country does not define what level education children receive, if the government believes in its importance more so than others.