Social Determinants Of Health In Australia

“Health inequities are systematic differences in the health status of different population groups” (World Health Organisation 2018). Some common health inequities faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders include; a lower life expectancy, a higher risk of chronic diseases, limited access to health care, a

Using information from Australia’s Health 2016, select two groups who suffer from significant health inequity and analyse how they experience health at a different level to other Australians. In your response, you must address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and one other group of your choosing. Health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians is improving in several different measures, including noteworthy declines in infant and child mortality and decreases in preventable mortality related to cardiovascular and kidney diseases. Although improvements have been made, significant disparities persist between ATSI Australians and non ATSI Australians. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are still left with

After watching the video file of Uncovering the Social Determinates of Health (2010), one can see the tumultuous work of Dr. Lydia P. Buki quest to identify the social determinants of health for Latino women. Dr. Buki identifies several broad factors that contribute to the determinants of health. First, Dr. Buki introduced health disparities as a key component to social determinants of health. The author stated that health disparity is “any kind of difference that you find in terms of health outcomes between different populations (Buki, 2010).”

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.

The social determinants presented in a neighborhood in which you reside evoke different health outcomes. For examples factors related to health such as walking distance, the number of recreational facilities, accessibility of healthful foods, etc. all matter to your health. As stated in the film, “health is embedded in the larger conditions in which we live and work”. Cardiologist David Weiland determined that socioeconomic factors such as income, wealth and education contribute to a wide range of health outcomes thus shaping the entirety of health for an individual.

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.

My definition of social determinants are the aspects of life that we as individuals often have no control over including where we are born and our upbringing which affects our controllable choices later in life such as living conditions, aging and our work environments ("About social determinants of health", n.d.). It’s not till I really consider this definition my understanding stays neutral but my perception begins to realise how these determinants encompass and affect every aspect of your life with regards to access to resources including transport to and from work or health care or, growing up in Brisbane, affluent areas had beautiful fresh produce unlike low socioeconomic areas. An interesting analogy when you consider it’s multifaceted,

In this research, the effect of social determinants of health on the prevalence of depression and treatment access was examined. Community survey and administrative data on mental health service users in the Calgary Health (CHR) were used to collect the data. the same as Canadian national statistics, depression was strongly associated with female gender, younger age, and health risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, and obesity. Severe depression which changes the daily functioning was significantly related to community-level indicators of single-parent status, low-income families, and low educational achievement. Accessing professional mental health services was found a barrier in some region seek treatment (Currie, Fiest,& Guyn, 2013).

Mrs Samira Azizi, a 56 year old with an Afghan cultural background living in the community require a nursing care, particularly post-operative dressing change following bowel cancer surgery. She was living with her family in an old farmhouse, 45 minutes away from town, unable to drive and with limited English language understanding that puts her at risk client living in the community (Henderson and Kendall, 2011). The community nurse will visit her for the first time. The social determinants of health most likely had an impact on the life expectancy of the vulnerable populations (Gupta, 2004). Applying the primary health care principles such as equity, cultural competence, community participation and maximum self-reliance, health promotion and disease prevention, access to health services and resource, use of acceptable technology and involvement of government departments to Mrs Azizi’s care will reduce the prevalence of health inequities amongst vulnerable individual (Kralik and Van Loon, 2011;Talbot and Verrinder, 2005). The importance of undertaking safety and risk management issues to the client’s home environment, client itself, nurse and wider community before and after the home visit aims to promote safety and potential hazards within a community that can be prevented from happening.

This research paper will focus on the social determinant of health involving access to clean water. We have focused our research on the accessibility of safe water intake on First Nations Reserves in Canada, we all know of the issues with limited access to safe water in other countries but we often forget about our own issues at home here. Over a billion people in the world lack safe drinking water, something that many of us in the Canada take for granted on a daily basis. As pointed out by Peter Gleick, “nearly three billion people live without access to adequate sanitation systems necessary for reducing exposure to water-related diseases”5. Throughout this paper we will explore different solution options in order to prevent the spread of dangerous diseases through unsanitary water conditions. Our research is going to express the importance of focusing on the issue we have at hand here in Canada and increasing awareness for the issues here before worrying about other countries over seas. Outbreaks of water-borne infections include but are not limited to; E’coli, Salmonella, Schistosoma, Cholera vibrios and Hepatitis A. Thousands of people die every day worldwide from water-related diseases; these deaths include mostly children and elderly, with some of these incidents taking place in Canada.

I define the social determinants of health as anything that can affect your physical, mental or emotional well-being. This can include your actual diet and hygiene, along

1. a. Social determinants of health may influence the burden of disease on global health in many ways. There are major differences in the leading causes of death between low-income, middle income, and high income countries (Moss, 2015). These differences are the result of the varied level of wealth, access to healthcare and clean water, knowledge of health care needs, and the countries’ ability to provide adequate health care to their citizens. Therefore, certain diseases are more prevalent in poor countries versus wealthy countries (Moss, 2015). For example, HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and tuberculosis are major killers in low-income countries. Moreover, some preventable diseases are also prevalent in the low-income countries, such as lower respiratory infections, diarrheal disease, premature and low weight births, and neonatal infections (Moss, 2015). Infectious diseases remain the leading causes of death among the middle income countries. At older age, the leading causes of death changes to non-communicable chronic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer. This corresponds to the leading causes of death among high income countries (Moss, 2015). Therefore, high income countries spend a significant amount of their GDP on chronic non-communicable diseases while low income countries spend a significant amount of their GDP on communicable diseases, such as HIV, Malaria, and Tuberculosis (Moss, 2015).

The influence of the population health is based on the role of the government but is not limited within the health sector but by various sectors outside the health systems. The health system is strengthened by the human resource development and the capacity to build and regulate the public health in the important areas of the health sector. The contributions to the health population are derived from the social determinants of health such as the living conditions, education, and the social security measures. Other areas for action are the population stabilization, reducing the impact of climate change on health and improving the community participation. Making public health a shared value across the various sectors is a politically challenging

I first realized that I was a girl, when my parents told me what girls do. I painted my nails, wore dresses to school, my parents fixed my hair in little bows. My parents basically told me that I was a girl. Family structure and a person’s family processes are consistently regarding as important social determinants of a person’s health (Walton & Takeuch, 2010). This learner always believed that it was nice to dress up in skirts. There was one time that I had asked my parents why my name was always spelled like a boy. My parents told me that my name was Jamie whether I was a boy or girl. I felt that it was weird that I had a boy’s name.

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.