The Determinants of Health
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, WHO 1948. It is the ability to recover and bounce back from illness and other problems. There are many factors of good health, but that will be discussion for another day. Since we have established the defination for health, let us lay our emphasis on the determinants of health.
The Determinants Of Health are a range of factors that influence the health status of individuals or populations. At every stage of life, health is determined by complex interactions between social and economic factors, the physical environment and individual behaviour. Many factors combine together to affect the health of individuals and communities. Whether people are healthy or not, is determined by their circumstances and enviroment. To a large extent, factors such as where we live, the state of our environment, genetics, our income and education level, and our relationships with friends and family all have considerable impacts on health, whereas the more commonly considered factors such as access and use of health care services often have less of an impact.
The context of people's lives determine their health, and so blaming individuals for having poor health or crediting them for good health is inappropriate. Individuals are unlikely to be able to directly conrol many of life determinants of health. These determinants , or things that make people healthy or not, fall into the following broad categories:
- Policymaking
- Social Factors
- Health Services
- Individual behaviour
- Biology and genetics
It is the interrelationships among these factors thatr determine individual and population health. Because of this, interventions that target multiple determinants of health are most likely to be effective. Determinants of health reach beyond the boundaries of traditional health care and public health sectors; sectors such as education, housing,transportation,agriculture, and environment can be important allies in improving population health.
Policymaking
Policies at the local, state , and federal lvel affect individual and population health.Increasing taxes on tabacco sales, for example, can improve population health by reducing the number of people using tabacco products.Some policies affect populations over extended periods of time while simultaneously helping to change individual behavior. The 1966 Highway Safety Act and the National Traffic and MotorVehicle Safety Act authorized the Federal Government to set and regulate standards for motors vehiclesand highways. This led to an increase in safety standards for cars, including seat belts, which in tuen reduced rates of injuries and deaths from motor vehicle accidents.
Social Factors
Social determinants of health reflect the social factors and physical conditions of the enviroment in which people are born, live, learn, play, work, and age. Also known as social and physical determinants of health, functioning, and quality of life outcomes. Examples of social determinants include:
- Availability of resources to meet daily needs, such as education and job opportunities, living wages, or healthful foods
- Social norms and attitudes, such as discrimination
- Exposure to crimes, violence, and social disorder, such as the presence of trash
- Social support and social interactions
- Exposure to mass media annd emerging yechnologies, such as the internet or cell phones
- Socioeconomic conditions, such as concentrated poverty
- Quality schools
- Transportation options
- Public safety
- Residential segregation
Poor health outcomes are often made worse by the interaction between individuals and their social and physical environment. For example. millions of people in the United States live in places that hacve unhealthy levels of Ozone or other air pollutants. In countries where Ozone pollution is high, there is often a higher prevalence of asthma in both adults and children compared with state and national averages. Poor air quality can worsen asthma symptoms, especially in children,
Health Services
Both access to health services and the quality of health services can impact health. Healthy People 2020 directly addresses access to health services as a topic area and incorporates quality of health services throughout a number of topic areas. Lack of access, or limited access, to health services greatly impacts an individual's health status.For example, when individuals do not have health insurance, they are less likely to participate in preventive care and are more likely to delay medical treatment.
Indiviadual Behaviour
Individual behavior also pays a role in health outcomes. For example, if an individual quits smoking, his or her risk of developing heart disease is greatly reduced. Many public health and health care interventions focus on changing individual behaviors such as substance abuse, diet, and physical activities. Positive changes in individual behavior can reduce the rates of chronic disease in this country.
Biology and Genetics
Some biological and genetic factors affect specific populations more than other. For example, older adults are biologically prone to being in poorer health than adolescents due to the physical and cognitive effects of aging. Sickle cell disease is a common example of a genetic determinant of health. Sickle cell is a condition that peopkle inherit when both parents carry the gene for sickle cell. The gene is most common in people with ancestors from West African countries, Mediterranean countries, South or Central American countrues, Caribbean Island , Idian, and Saudi Arabia.
In conclusion, human health is determined by the interaction of several factors, which include the above listed factors. These determinants influence health levels throughout the life of human.
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