Public Health and Social Determinants of Population Health. Public health depends on social factors which shape the people’s health and well-being. Understanding these factors help determine what is needed to further improve population health. Some of these determinants are considerations that are political, legal, socioeconomical, cultural, and social networking within and between communities. I will use my personal experience where I conducted during the summer with AsiaNetwork, which examines access to health care for rural Japanese elderly compared to Native Americans. The focus of this assignment will be the health disparity associated with aging Native Americans. Political and Legal Considerations Cooperation is key to develop policies that best help the people. Unfortunately, many politicians struggle in developing new policies and refining existing public health policies that best resolve health disparities. The politicians lack of wiliness to cooperate cause them to fail to produce laws concerning public health. The commotion among politicians involving the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act isn’t aimed to improve public health. Instead, politicians aim to please the base support of political parties. The political and legal stalemate neglects health disparities and the severe consequences the people face. Socioeconomical Status Consideration In addition to the previous two considerations at a national level, state and local governments play a
ATSI people refers to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. In terms health outcomes, ATSI people experience the largest gap in Australia. ATSI people are less likely to join the labour force (employment). With no employment ATSI people cannot earn money, therefore having a low socioeconomic status, leading no private health insurance. This is also the case why 83% of ATSI people do not have private health care.
emphasis was on relationships to family, group and country rather than the development of an
St. Paul's L'Amoreaux Centre provides programs and services for older adults from all backgrounds. Most of these clients have children living nearby or in the GTA area. The clients at SPLC are all independent and can live on their own. Some of the important determinants of health that are relevant to this client group is income and social status, social support networks, education and literacy, social and physical environments, personal health practices, coping skills, biology and genetic endowment, health services, gender, and culture. All these social determinants of health will affect each individual in a different way, so as a nursing student we have to pay attention to how one determinant of health may be a concern for one specific client.
“Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people have a greater amount of disadvantage and significantly more health problems than the non-Aboriginal & Torres strait Islander population in Australia”
Access to healthcare varies in rural and urban America. Rural areas are less likely to have specialized services, have less options for primary care, limited public transportation, and greater distances to travel when accessing healthcare. The United States Census Bureau defines urban areas as having 50,000 or more people and urban clusters as having at least 2,500 citizens but less than 50,000 citizens (2015). Rural areas include all population, housing, and territory that is not included in urban areas (United States Census Bureau, 2015). West Virginias percentage of urban population is 48.72%, the percentage of urban cluster is 15.52%, and the percentage of rural population is 51.28% (United States Census Bureau, 2015).
Sexually transmitted diseases (STD)/sexually transmitted infections (STI) including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to plague the nation. The most common forms of STDs are chlamydia and gonorrhea. Adolescents and young adults are ill-informed about STDs and its tell-tale signs. Thus, the most affected age group for chlamydia and gonorrhea is 15-24-year-olds. Young adults are most vulnerable for acquiring an STD, especially African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans compared with whites (healtypeople.gov).
Poverty and war are two social determinants of health that interact directly to shape an individuals life. Eldon Starlight in Richard Wagamese’s Medicine Walk can be identified as an alcoholic who struggles with mental injuries. Many social determinants of health impact Eldon’s health and quality of life, shaping who he is. As we examine the effects of poverty and war we come to understand their influences on Eldon’s life. Poverty and war can have permanently altering effects on an individual’s life.
Norma James is a 65 years old widow who lives alone. Mrs. James has a medical history of Type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension and has also been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. Mrs. James has been a smoker since her 20s and smokes about a ½ pack of cigarettes per day. She has two adult sons who lives far and has minimum contact with them. She does not work and has a very limited savings. She relies on Old Age Security Benefits for income. She has been living in the same neighbourhood for years but has only few individuals who she considers friends. She prefers to spend her time alone at home watching television, reading or watching over her six cats.
There is growing research into what has become known as the social determinants of health; the central claim arising from this research is that “various social factors have a strong influence on population health and on inequalities in health outcomes across social groups”. (Preda & Voigt, 2015) Social determinants of health are conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality of life outcomes and risks. Conditions such as social, economic, and physical in various environments and settings such as school, church, work, or neighborhood have been referred to as “place”. (HP 2020) According to Healthy People 2020 (2016) understanding the relationship between how population groups experience “place” and the impact of “place” on health is fundamental to the social determinants of health. Healthy People 2020 (2016) have developed an approach to social determinants by organizing a “place-based” framework, reflecting five key areas of social determinants of health. Each of these five determinant areas, economic stability, education, social and community context, health and healthcare, neighborhood and built environment; reflects a number of critical components that make up the underlying factors in the arena of social determinants of health. Differences in social, economic, and environmental circumstances lead to health inequalities that are socially produced and therefore
There are many factors that affect the health of populations and communities. Factors like where people live, their environment, their income, their relationships, their education, and genetics affect a person’s health; these are known as the social determinants of health. This paper will be discussing which social determinants of health affect the rates of diabetes in the Aboriginal population of Canada. The determinants of health that this paper will cover are income, physical environment, and education. This paper will also use the Population Health Promotion Model (PHPM) to analyze the issue.
The social determinants to health that affect our community are the issues we face as individuals growing up as part of our lifestyle. Income is a major social determinant to health in our social settings since it is dependent on many factors leading to a certain lifestyle if the income is good. Low incomes lead to ripple effects in society, poor housing, lack of adequate food, not balanced diet for the family and lack of proper health services for the family, leading to poor health (Hosseini et al., 2017). Public policy can help by legisling a minimum wage that can help the lowest income earner provide vital basics for the family.
Another U.S. study found that low availability of emotional support and low social participation were associated with all-cause mortality.
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.
The public health message contemplating is "R.I.D.E your way to a successful health". The acronym in ride stands for Reduce, Implement, Disseminate, and Evaluate. Therefore, it becomes critical to reducing the impact CVD has on the health care system (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015) by implementing a health education program to target CVD through health consulting. DHEO intend to disseminate, evaluation forms to measure effectively behavioral changes conducted through public health consulting outreaches. In CVD, health education in the DHOH communities needs to be address, especially the impact it has on the overall nation health expenditure (Zazove & Doukas, 1994). The social determinants of health in the DHOH communities
Social determinants of health are social, economic and physical factors that affect the health of individuals in any given population. There are fourteen social determinants of health but Income is perhaps the most important of these because it shapes living conditions, influences health related behaviors, and determines food security. In Canada, people with lower incomes are more susceptible to disease/ conditions, higher mortality rate, decreased life expectancy and poorer perceived health than people with high incomes. In numerous Canadian studies and reports, there has been more emphasis on health being based on an individual’s characteristics, choices and behaviours, rather than the role that income plays as a social determinant of health. Although Canada has one of the highest income economies in the world and is comprised of a free health care system, many low income families are a burden on the system because of the physical and mental health issues influenced by income insecurity. Low income individuals are heavier users of health care services because they have lower levels of health and more health problems than do people with higher incomes. This essay will address income as a social determinant of health in three key sections: what is known on the issue, why the issue is important and how can health and public policies address the issue. The main theme that runs through the essay is the income related health inequalities among low income groups compared to