Question

The purpose of this discussion activity is two-fold. The first is to give you (and me) a chance to get to know one another, and the second is to share our ideas around the social determinants of health and how this may impact on our consumers of healthcare.

You are required to post a response to the following questions:

1. What is your name?

2. What is your favourite hobby/past time?

3. From your work this week list one of the key social determinants of health

4. For that social determinant of health describe how this may impact on a consumers health and wellbeing.

Please try to keep your responses to a max of 300 words. This will help keep you focused and concise and won't create hours of reading for your peers. As part of this task you must use at least 3 references to support your information and reference using APA 7th Edition.

Answer 1

1. My name is Dr. Sumit.

2. My hobbies include watching movies, and playing chess.

3. Social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. They include factors like socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood and physical environment, employment, and social support networks, as well as access to health care.

• INCOME LEVEL and SOCIAL STATUS are the key or most imporsocial determinant of health.

Health is influenced by many factors, which may generally be organized into five broad categories known as determinants of health-

- Genetics,

- Behavior,

- Environmental and physical influences,

- Medical care,

- Social factors.

Examples of social determinants of health may include -

• Income level.

• Educational opportunities.

• Occupation, employment status, and workplace safety.

• Gender inequity.

• Racial segregation.

• Food insecurity and inaccessibility of nutritious food choices.

• Access to housing and utility services.

• Neighbourhood and environment.

• Health and health care.

4. Social determinants have a major impact on health outcomes especially for the most vulnerable populations. Factors such as a patient's education, income level and environment must be considered when providing treatment and care.
Social determinants of health such as poverty, unequal access to health care, lack of education, stigma, and racism are underlying, contributing factors of health inequities.

* Addressing social determinants of health is a primary approach to achieving health equity. Health equity is “when everyone has the opportunity to ‘attain their full health potential’ and no one is ‘disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of their social position or other socially determined circumstance’”

• Income level has a huge impact on health and wellness.

The relationship between health and wealth is called “gradient” : the health improves when the income grows, and the poor has worse health than the rich, what means the higher the gradient the better the health.

Level of income shapes overall living conditions, affects psychological functioning, and influences health related behaviours such as quality of diet, extent of physical activity, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol use.
Poor housing conditions increase the risk of severe ill health or disability by up to 25% during childhood and early adulthood. For many people, prohibitive housing costs combined with poor standards of accommodation affects physical and mental health, keeping them trapped.

Higher income and social status are linked to improved health status. These two factors may be the most important determinants of health. The greater the gap between the richest and the poorest people in an area, the greater the disparities in their health.