The Social Determinants Of Health

Socioeconomic status is a predictive measure of health that has been widely used in the literature (Kroenke, 2008). It

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:

Social determinants of health can be referred to as the living conditions that can affect an individuals’s health. Some of these determinants of health include; qualify of life during infancy, education, employment, working conditions, food security, gender, health care services, housing, income and its distribution, social safety net, social exclusion, employment security and aboriginal status (Raphael, D., 2010, Pg 148). Those with higher socio-economic status; such as the upperclass and the upper middle-class, tend to possess a majority of resources, as opposed to those with lower socio-economic status; such as the lower middle-class and the lower class. This situation is the basis of the concept of social inequality; income inequality

Social determinants of health encompasses ethnicity, gender and social class. It is seen as the essential

Social determinants can strengthen or undermine the health of individuals and communities (Wilkinson & Marmot 2003). For example, in general, people from poorer social or economic circumstances are at greater risk of poor health than people who are more advantaged.

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.

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.

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.

A person’s health can be affected by many factors such as housing, income and environment. This essay will define and explain the term ‘social determinants of health’, discuss why housing, income and environment are considered social determinants of health and how these determinants can have a negative affect on one’s health.

Social determinants have immense important role in the health of people. Socio-economic position and ethnic identity are two factors which affected the health and wellbeing of people. This essay looks into two important social determinants of health.

The aim of this essay is to examine the influence that socio-economic status has on an individual’s health.

In this section, I am going to discuss how social determinants of health, as exemplified by my observations, affect people in the area serviced by the NHS Trust I am training with. As I have mentioned in my introduction the road construction was to expand roads and build more cycling lanes. The negative aspect of this was noise pollution, more dusts and traffic level reduced. It can be very disturbing for people living near the road as road construction may begin early in the morning and finish late in the evening. The dusts from the road construction can cause asthma to individuals. The positive aspect of this could be to encourage people to cycle more because cycling is known to be a form of exercise. In terms of health, this reduces the

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 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