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.

These elements include social support structures, educational attainment, employment status, poverty, and income. Health outcomes, health behaviors, and access to healthcare services are all significantly influenced by socioeconomic level (WHO, 2003). Similarly, a healthy neighborhood and lifestyle determine health. Health within the Social Insurance Model is influenced by a variety of elements, such as housing quality, transportation, access to healthy food, water quality, usage of tobacco and alcohol, amount of physical activity, dietary practices, and adherence to advised screenings or

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 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).

Healthcare disparities come in many different shapes, sizes, and forms. One health care disparity is the geography of where care is provided. Many seem to miss this aspect and it should be taken seriously on the account of where healthcare can be delivered to. I currently go serve in the Navajo Nation tribe in Arizona, Pine Springs for a church missionary to evangelize the gospel for the past two years. Within every visit, I witness the circumstances the Native American people live in, where poverty-smitten the communities.

Although a consensus has not yet been reached defining what is fully considered to be a disparity in health care, statistics prove that ethnic minorities have been receiving a significantly lower quality in health care in comparison to that of the other American citizens. In comparison to that quality received by whites, African Americans receive worse care by 40% of core measures, Asians by about 20%, Hispanics by about 60%, and the impoverished by about 80% of core measures. However, studies are able to provide great insight as to which factors may be causing the large discrepencies in health care between ethnicities and races. In a cross-sectional analysis of 54,968 respondents conducted by California Health Interview Survey in 2001, approximately

Health is a basic human need and is a ubiquitous human aspiration. Unfortunately health is not equal and there are considerable differences in long term health outcomes between people from differing socioeconomic backgrounds. Health is not only the result of biological or genetic processes; it is also influenced by the economic and social conditions in which people live in. These influences are termed as the social determinants of health and they can influence health either positively or negatively (Siegrist and Marmot, 2006). Social determinants of health are not fixed and include things such as types of housing and environment people live in, the accessibility of education and health services, income level and employment type.

Social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, all of which have an impact on their health. The social determinants of health entail a person's age, sex, genetic makeup, health behaviors, as well as their social and community networks, socioeconomic, cultural and environmental conditions, and health systems. Social determinants of health are shaped by money, power, and resources and influence health inequities, which are the unfair and avoidable health differences between different groups of people between or within countries. A community or population's social determinants of health can determine and lead to the unequal distribution of resources which has great influence on a person’s

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.

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

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.

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.

Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience chronic ill-health and die earlier than those who are more advantaged. Health inequalities are not only apparent between people of different socio-economic groups – they exist between different genders and different ethnic groups (“Health inequalities,” n.d.). The situation in which people are born, grow, develop, work and age are affected by social, economic, environmental and most importantly political factors.

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.