Social Determinants Of Health

Why are higher income and social status associated with better health? If it were just a matter of the poorest and lowest status groups having poor health, the explanation could be things like poor living conditions. But the effect occurs all across the socio-economic spectrum. Considerable research indicates that the degree of control people have over life circumstances,

As stated by the World Health Organization (WHO), ‘health’ is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 1948). The health and wellbeing of individuals is generally determined by their circumstances and environment, a phenomenon referred to as the social determinants of health. WHO describes the social determinants of health as:

Communities are sometimes largely unaware that social factors rather than medical ones, such as income, and employment status, shape our health. Our health is also determined by the health and social services we receive, and our ability to attain high education levels, food and safe housing, among other factors.

According to the dictionary, the word health is “the state of being free from illness.” At a first glance, this defination seems to be very direct and simple, however the meaning of the word ‘health’ nowadays is much more complex. The above definition pretty much sums up our view of health in the first half of the 20th century.

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 social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life” (World Health Organisation (WHO), 2009). The social determinants of health can be divided into 5 categories, age, sex and hereditary factors, individual lifestyle factors, social and community networks, living and working conditions and general socioeconomic, cultural and

Social class helps to deter the reasons for individual’s health and ill health. Social classes also help with understanding health and ill health, this is done through the basis of individuals lifestyle class, for example the lower class who work in the worst

These are a few potential links between social inequalities and the health of the population: income and wealth distribution, unemployment, the ageing society, gender and health, mental illness and suicide and disability and dysfunction. I am going to discuss each of these and see the health impact on people in each group.

Social determinants are regarded as the life you were born in i.e. your ethnicity, age ,gender etc. this also links to the determinant factors i.e. environment, economic, social status and lifestyle (REFERENCE) Social determinant of health strongly impact on the health outcome of individuals Many health researchers regard social position as the fundamental cause of health (REFERENCE). Social determinant can influence the care and support each individual received in order to manage their diabetes. Living in a deprived area where there is no availability of community based resources, ‘men and women of working age in the most deprived population groups are twice as likely to die prematurely as those who are relatively affluent;’(Inequality in Health and Social care use 2003) therefore you have to access healthcare services outside the area, this can stop individuals from seeking treatment as they might not have bus fare or access to a private car.(Reference).The impact of austerity cuts also impact on individuals of the

A communicable disease chain is the mechanism by which an infective agent or pathogen is transmitted. The chain requires an infective agent, a source of infection, a mode of transmission and a host. An example of an infective agent could be bacteria, a virus, fungus, protozoan or helminth. The source of infective agents can be transmission from host to host, an infected human or animal, insects, soil or livestock. The mode of transmission is how the infective agent is carried from host to host. Transmission can be by air, ingestion or physical contact. To complete a life cycle or to replicate, the infective agent requires a host.

This essay will discuss ways in which a person’s socioeconomic class and his/her social situation can have an impact on his/her health, using examples. We believe that there is a direct link between socioeconomic/social class and health (Adler et al. 1994). I will be defining the key terms: socioeconomic and health, social class then proceed to discuss about how poverty, income, employability, environment and housing can impact on a person’s social situation and their health.

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 1948.)

An array of factors like personal, social, economic, and environment issues influence and determines the health of individual and population, acting in various combination (Knickman & Kovner, 2015). These determinants of health, known as population health determinants generally include genetics, access to health care, individual behavior, social determinant, physical environment (Knickman & Kovner, 2015).

(WHO, 1948) describes health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease of infirmity’? There are other dimensions of health such as physical health, mental health and emotional health which can be broken down and looked at individually.