Health Inequalities: Social Determinants Of Health Care

The lecture, led by Dr. Christian Dimaano, discussed a variety of health disparities and then went into an in depth look at Henrietta Lacks, and the use of her cells in scientific research. He described health disparities as the differences of health problems between races, lifestyles, and mental processes. This was a very interesting topic for me, as a nursing major, I hadn’t really thought about health disparities before, so it was interesting to think about all of the potentially higher health risks that can occur simply because a patients race, or mental state. He also discussed the social determinants of heath and how things like your physical environment, economic stability, social community, and education can all influence your health. Dr. Dimaano also talked about how social determinants of health are health problems that you had no choice in, they are developed by factors such as sex, age, genes, medical care, and individual behaviors such as work and home life.

Before we look at the different Social/Psychological Determinants of Health it is important firstly to define what a social determinant of health is. According to the World Health Organization (2017) “The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.” These conditions are as a result of a wide range of factors that are ultimately governed by the way in which money, power and specific resources are shared at different levels including those at global, national and local levels. We have all been a part of and will experience different social determinants of health throughout our lives but it is the standard at which we experience these determinants that will ultimately lead onto them affecting our health or ultimately leaving us unaffected. The Social Determinants of Health which I am going to examine include • Education • Unemployment • Stress • Living Conditions • Cultural Norms.

Heath and Low Socioeconomic Status Class When examining the health status of Canadians, one may not recognize the flaws of inequality. When looked into further is it evident that not all Canadians are on equal playing fields when it comes to access of health. The concept of social determinant of health, taps into the idea that there are social barriers and obstacle in our society that present challenges for certain social groups and their access to health care. One group of Canadians who experience the effects of inequality in our health care system, are those individuals living in lower socioeconomic status.

Health outcomes among people depend upon the resources that people have to live a quality life. The variations with the money distribution and power derive such circumstances and induce inequalities in health at domestic and global levels where they have become unavoidable at present (Vega & Frenz, 2013). It has been stated that income, housing as well as environment are the major categories undermining all the factors of social determinants as mentioned earlier. Individuals, groups and communities are negatively influenced by these factors in their health status. Governments of all nations have undertaken several measures to tackle the risks arising from these conditions (Chapman, 2010).

Disparities are all around us and can account for inequality that is seen among different race, in education, business, politics and even healthcare. Inequality can affect all aspects of a person’s life. In the United States it is unfortunate that every citizen is not privy to the same quality of healthcare. This is one of the major challenges and growing issues for the United States healthcare system. The gap in care is derived from racial, ethnic, gender differences in populations.

Introduction Disparities in health are an inequality that occurs in the provision of healthcare and its accessibility across different dimensions including location, gender, ethnicity, age, disability status, citizenship status and socioeconomic group (Ubri & Artiga, 2016; Wallerstein & Durran, 2006). According to the health Resources and Service Administration of United States, health disparities are defined by population specific differences in the presence of disease, health outcomes and the accessibility to healthcare. Urbi and Artiga (2016) indicates that disparities in healthcare provision not only bring impacts to the group facing disparities, but also limit overall improvements in quality of care and population health as well as resulting

Health Care in the US is arguably available to all who seek it but not everybody has had the same experience and treatment when walking through the doors of a healthcare facility. In many cases, people are discriminated against due to their gender, race/ethnicity, age, and income and are often provided with minimal service. Differences between groups in health coverage, access to care, and quality of care is majorly affected through these disparities. Income is a major factor and can cause groups of people to experience higher burden of illness, injury, disability, or mortality relative to another group.

Social Determinants of Health Shelly Clavis Rutgers University School of Nursing  Social Determinants of Health Defined Health concerns is an issue that most organizations have formed a pact to safely deal with the challenge. The main agenda focuses on the eradication of health inequalities that may exist in most countries. It is best suited that social determinants are accorded the much-needed attention since they affect a number of people. In assessing the factors that affect one’s health, genetic disposition, personal behaviors, ability to obtain healthcare and the overall environment in which an individual resides are to be considered. Social determinants of Health are issues that deals with the conditions that people have found constructed in a society and acts as a parcel in their lives, such as; growth, age and some of the more complex systems that construct a society which include economic policies and their systems that include social norms, development goals and the basic political system that they are indulged under (World Health Organization, 2008).

Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Healthy People (2015), these factors underlie preventable disparities in health status and disease outcomes. Poor health outcomes are often the result of the interaction between individuals and their social and physical environment. Policies that result in changes to the social and physical environment can affect entire populations over extended periods of time, while simultaneously helping people to change individual-level behavior. Improving the conditions in which people are born, live, work, and age will ensure a healthier population, thereby improving national productivity, security, and prosperity through a healthier nation. The importance of social determinants of health is growing initiatives to address these determinants of health.

Social determinants of health depend on social, environmental and economic conditions in societies (EuroHealthNet, n.d.). These factors and conditions, together with the age, sex and hereditary factors of a person, are interlinked and influence the health status of the individual, because a person is born, grows, lives, works and ages in these conditions (Equity Action, 2010). The living and working conditions include agriculture and food production, education, work and environment, unemployment, water and sanitation, health care services and housing (Marmot, Health inequalities in the EU, 2013, p. 40). In addition, it is clear that equal access to good health is hard to achieve, and it can be done so, if disadvantages are assessed, and that necessary measures should be taken (Stegeman, Costongs, & Needle,

These factors are known as the Social Determinants of health. “The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system” (WHO). Dalgren & Whitehead (1991) image of the social determinants of health aims to show the relationship between the person, their environment and their health. The modifiable factors, people’s age, gender and race lie in the centre surrounded by non modifiable factors like profession, housing, education and public policy. There is a direct relationship between people’s environment and their health, e.g. people who live in damp housing have a higher incidence of respiratory health problems (Farell et al.

Annotated Bibliography Marmot, M. (2005). Social determinants of health inequalities. The Lancet, 365, 1099 1104. This journal article illustrates that many countries have enormous disparities in health.

This essay aims to identify and evaluate the inequalities in health care in different areas of society, namely disability and gender. Firstly, it is important to understand what we mean by health inequalities. It is commonly understood that health inequality refers to unjust differences in the health status, usually preventable, between different groups, populations or individuals. The existence of such inequalities is attributed to the unequal distributions of social, environmental and economic conditions within societies. Such conditions determine the risk of individuals getting ill, their ability to prevent sickness, as well as opportunities to access to the right treatments.

Introduction Health is an important element throughout our life. A person’s health can be affected by many social factors such as gender roles and economic positions. As there are differences in health status between different populations groups, health inequality is then formed, for example, differences in morbidity and mortality rates between people from different social classes. In my essay, I will first define the meaning of ‘health’ from different perspectives. Then, I will talk about how social factors such as gender roles and economic positions determine a person’s health.

In conventional practice, ‘social determinants of health’ encompassed only intermediary determinants. However, interventions addressing intermediary determinants can improve average health indicators while leaving health inequities unchanged, so, structural determinants is necessary. Thenceforth, policy-making and implementation are vital for progress due to structural determinants that can be tackled through strategies reaching elsewhere the health sector. Lastly, Participation of civil society and affected communities in implementation of policies to address social determinants of health is crucial to success. Social participation with government empowered civil society to build a sustained global movement for health equity.