eath Determinants

Heath Determinants Introduction

Health can be described as a state of mental, physical and social wellbeing where one is free from illness and any injury. There are different determinants of health which include; social, cultural and medical. Social determinants of health come across as the circumstances in which an individual is born in as well as live in that has an impact on their lives. These include economic factors such as the level of income, occupation, work safety and working hours. The ways in which a person acquires their daily bread can pose a risk to their health or if occupational health and safety is observed, the work would be the reason to a good and well lavished lifestyle in the future.

There are different determinants of health among them being social determinants, cultural determinants and biological determinants of health. People are less concerned with social determinants of health since when one hears about sickness, one thing that only biological factors such as germs and pathogens are involved. Social determinants of health refer to the conditions which one is born and grows in. Social factors are shaped by money, food, power and resources. Among the sociological factors that influence health include; education, level of income and environment.

Social Determinants of health

Education

Education is also one of the social determinants of health. Education is the process of acquiring knowledge. Knowledge acquired can be applicable in different aspects of health including food nutrition, medical examination and diagnosis. Education is acquired by both patients and the health personnel.

Access to good educational facilities, early childhood experiences and development opportunities may also determine the kind of life one can live. Most people that didn’t get a good education or don’t have a good academic background may end up doing very labour intensive jobs which result in very common ailments and subsequently ill health. When one is well educated with basic biological knowledge, one can tell when there is a problem in the body and take necessary action. Education helps prevent from getting chronic to those who are aware of certain diseases. For example, a patient can notice a cancerous growth and is able to go for diagnosis. Also, a learned person knows signs and symptoms for various diseases thus it is easy to take an early action. Ann Friedman in her story describes men who did not understand what was happening to them perhaps because they lacked the required education. She Says, “It seems to me that the disease is no more divine than any other. It has a natural cause just as other diseases have. Men think it is divine merely because they don’t understand it. But if they called everything divine which they do not understand, why, there would be no end to divine things.” If the men understood the disease well, they would have gone to the hospital and get diagnosed rather than calling it divine. Indeed, knowledge determines how people respond to different changes in the normal lives.

Those that have had the chance to go to great schools and earn themselves good grades and white collar jobs have less off this to worry about. They do less and earn more and have enough time for their families as well as recreational activities which is one of the social determinants of health too. Education helps one to acquire a job with eventually one will pay medical cover. With a medical cover, one gets attended to in hospital any time and at any cost depending on the type of illness. Also, education determines how one attends psychiatric sessions and internalize psychological advices from the counsellor. Basically education determines one’s health in the sense that having knowledge on something improves how one takes illness.

Environment

Another social determinant of health is the environment people live in and the food they eat. Environment is composed people who surround someone, security, cleanliness, access to social amenities and a good neighbourhood. Social amenities imply to health facilities, schools, food and shelter. Food and shelter are basic needs which determines one’s wellbeing.

Access to modest and social amenities, the state of the neighbourhood and the living conditions, the rates of crime and exposure to violence, availability of clean drinking water and clean water, food security and ability to access nutritious foods. A well balanced diet is the greatest determinant of a well functional body. With good food choices, one has the ability to avoid some of the lifestyle diseases or malnourishment caused diseases.

At the same time a peaceful, loving and calm environment gives one peace of mind and releases tension on matters that may lead to diseases such as high blood pressure, ulcers caused by stress or even anxiety. A crime free environment increases the standards of living. A peaceful environment prevents one from psychiatric problems such as depression, anxiety and OSA. There have been cases of people being depressed in streets where crime is rampant. A good example is wall street which was a major crime avenue and in in 2016 it recorded 25% of the total cases of depression in the state.

Talking about social amenities as part of environment, they play a major role in determining health. The key social amenity in the health sector is hospital where people get diagnosed and treated various sicknesses. When the social environment is well equipped with enough hospitals, chances are high that people will receive rapid medical attention (Artiga, & Hinton, 2019). Rapid medical attention leads to a society with less sick people. The opposite is true where when a society is less equipped with medical facilities, people will not receive the needed health attention ending up having a society with many sick people. A good example is from Ann Friedman’s story where she describes the hospital her family was treated. “By chance, during the years I worked on this book, my husband, my father, my daughter, and I all experienced serious illnesses, and, like the Lees, I found myself spending a lot of time in hospitals. I passed many hours in waiting rooms gnawing on the question, what is a good doctor? During the same period, my two children were born, and I found myself often asking a second question that is also germane to the Lees’ story: What is a good parent?” From the above it is no doubt the hospital was not well equipped with doctors that the family received less medical attention.

Level of income

Level of income includes what a person earns for their work, business or services. The amount of income received by an individual determines the kind of life one can live. When one has a good pay cheque at the end of the day they are able to afford good medical facilities and products. They are also able to afford regular doctor examinations as well as the services of professional gym instructors who may be very costly. At the same time, they are able to afford a balanced diet and medical attention when need be. It also goes without say that those that have a high income are those at top positions. They work on less labour intensive but more mental intensive jobs. This may result in more psychological and mental illnesses such as depression or stress unlike the labour intensive guys who suffer more on chronic back aches, injury such as losing their body parts in industries.

Further, a stable source of income implies one’s health is at less risk. When one has a stable source of income, one can buy high end drugs, comprehensive medical cover and so on. A good case to describe source of income and its relation to health is the case of fast food in the country. People tend to buy fast foods because they are cheap and readily available. Fast foods are key sources of lifestyle diseases such obesity, hypertension and cardiovascular disease (Artiga, & Hinton, 2019). Those who earn a lot can buy healthy meals which contain less fat thus chances of getting lifestyle diseases are minimal. In Klinenberg’s article, he links the access to social amenities with level of income. He links his discussion of the crisis to social factors such as affordability whew factors like water and energy rates make air conditioners unaffordable to poorer communities and the elderly who have fixed incomes. Being unable afford the air conditioners is what made it hard to combat the crisis on time. What if the afforded those amenities? The crisis would have not affected them to the extreme level. Level of income thus plays a crucial role in determining health of people in the society.

Differences among medical, social and cultural understandings of health illness.

As stated above there are biological, social and cultural determinants of health. These three differ in the sense each has varying factors as discussed below. First when one talks biological determinants of health this includes gender, genetics age and medical status. There are diseases that are prone to men and some prone to women with an example of cervical cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. When one goes to the hospital for diagnosis there are questions restricted to females only such as when was your last menses? It implies that if one is female there some diseases one can get and same applies to male. Further, age determines one’s health. Young children are highly posed to diseases such as polio and malaria, middle aged adults are highly exposed to STIs while the old age can get Alzheimer’s cataracts and other old age diseases. Biological factors differ from social factors in the sense they relate on biological processes and social is external to the body. Social factors are the things that surround a human being while biological factors are process that occur in a human being.

Further, biological factors determine health since different people have varying immunity. There are some people prone to diseases such as allergic reaction which determines their general health. A good case is that one person with allergies to cold climate is likely to get flu unlike those who have no allergies. People with strong allergies have in the past years reported to have mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. When exposed to an environment that might trigger certain reactions this category of people tends to be anxious and afraid that they might react. Social factors such as level of income helps prevent triggers such as dusty environment where one can stay in clean suburbs.

Cultural factors on the other hand can be described in terms of community’s beliefs and practices. The beliefs and practices affect perceptions in illness, death, causes of diseases, types of treatment and approaches to solve public health issues. Also, cultural beliefs determine the type of medication that patients seek. A good example of how culture can affect how people perceive illness is that, some communities see HIV as a curse thus are always reluctant to go seek treatment or prevention.

Different cultures have their own ways of treatment on certain diseases. For example, there are African cultures which firmly believe in natural treatment such as the use of unprocessed herbs which sometimes fail to treat the intended disease. It is hard to convince such people to take certified medicine and seek doctor’s advice since this is what they grew up believing to be a cure of a certain diseases. Also, some cultural practices such as FGM expose ladies to various diseases which the society tend to be ignorant about it. Also, some cultures believe that diseases are not as a result of biological factors nor social factors thus it becomes hard to treat and advise a patient on preventive measures. The worst of all is when male patients would want to be treated by strictly males and the same applies to females. This hinders opposite gender expertise from handling the situation in the right way resulting to partial treatment or no treatment at all.

Cultural factors differ from biological factors in that these are purely assumptions from communities and not evidence based claims. With culture, certain diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis are stigmatized basing on the cultural understanding of this diseases. Unlike social factors, cultural factors are due to negligence, ignorance and beliefs which determine how people get treated. In some culture, pain is hardly expressed and stoicism is the norm. Certain people are expected to stay strong despite the pain.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, there are various factors that determine health and are related. All the above determinants of heath can be prevented and some cultural beliefs erased since they have no evidence. Social factors such as education can be used to improve health in the sense that everyone should be educated on various diseases, their causes and preventive measures. Public health awareness is an important move to ensure good health and safety. Biological factors on the other hand can be prevented by vaccination. Diseases such as polio, whooping cough and so forth can be prevent through giving the child respective vaccines. Ensuring a clean environment can also help ensure both physical and mental health. Cases of depression, anxiety and other psychiatric problems can be solved. The public need to be aware of the various health determinants and work towards ensuring that these factors are controlled to ensure good health. Cultural practices should not aim at interrupting the process of achieving good health.

References

Artiga, S., & Hinton, E. (2019). Beyond health care: the role of social determinants in promoting health and health equity. Health, 20, 10.

Marmot, M. (2005). Social determinants of health inequalities. The lancet, 365(9464), 1099-1104.

Marmot, M., Friel, S., Bell, R., Houweling, T. A., Taylor, S., & Commission on Social Determinants of Health. (2008). Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health. The lancet, 372(9650), 1661-1669.

World Health Organization. (2008). Social determinants of health (No. SEA-HE-190). WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia.