Health refers to the condition of a good physical and mental state and all the necessary actions to maintain that good health not only as an individual but also as a community. If we observe our circle like our family, friends, and the people around us, the health is variable since 2016. The maximum life span of a newly born in Sierra Leone was 53 years. Similarly, if we study, Australia’s life span was around 83 years, but if we look at the life span of the native people of Australia, it is ten years less than that of the non-native Australians.
Determinants of Health:
A person’s health is also associated with education and occupation, their way of earning and living life. All of these factors can influence health in both positive and negative ways. Such health factors are referred to as determinants of health. Determinants of health cover areas like age, sex, genetic makeup, the habits such as smoking, physical activity, alcohol use, and diet health.
Social Determinants:
The environment in which people are born, rise, live, function, and age, collectively known as the social determinants of health, are shaped by the allocation of money, power, and wealth on a regional, national. Local-level can contribute to health inequities or differences in health between various classes of people.
This is both unjust and avoidable.
Let’s look at the social determinants of health using a structure established by the World Health Organization.
This framework divides health determinants into two categories:
- Systemic
- Intermediary.
The socio-economic and political backgrounds in which people work are social determinants, include governance, fiscal, social, and public policy, as well as the social and cultural ideals associated with wellness. These factors can result in a disproportionate allocation of material and monetary capital, affecting a person’s socioeconomic status. Education, occupation, wages, gender, race, ethnicity, and social background are all factors that influence socioeconomic status.
Health determinants work through a series of intermediate variables that influence a person’s exposure susceptibility and outcomes to factors that impair their health. Material conditions such as accommodation quality, financial resources to purchase nutritious foods, clothes, and other criteria for healthy living and working environments are examples of stressful life challenges. In addition to these healthcare programs, behavioral and biological considerations influence the form, efficiency, and accessibility of healthcare, bridging the systemic and intermediate determinants of our social stability and social resources.
All of these determinants are not necessarily linked linearly. These determinants can act over the lifetime of a person’s life and can be nuanced interdependent and function in several different ways to affect health. For example, wealth can restrict opportunities for people to achieve good health and vice versa. Bad health can limit opportunities for people to engage in the workforce.
Conclusion:
So, the next time you hear about a health problem, think about not just who they are and what they do. Still, the circumstances under which they are born, grow up, work, and age because if we recognize and focus on these factors, we will provide a better environment for everybody.
