Determinants Of Health: Economic And Environmental Impacts

Determinants of Health

Discuss about the Health Determinant for Economic and Environmental.

Determinants of health are the factors that explains what make some people healthy and some unhealthy. It may come under several categories such as personal, social, economic, environmental, and biological and policy making factors. The interrelationship between all these factors determines the health of an individual. Certain context of people’s lives also has an impact on their health and they may not be able to control each of the determinants of health (WHO | The determinants of health, 2017). The main objective of this report is to discuss three determinants of health and analyze how they affect an individual. The main focus is on providing evidence regarding how different determinants impact health and then describe three health promotion strategies specific to each determinant. Finally personal reflection will be given on the likely challenges a person is going to face when modifying each of the health determinants. It will help in getting idea about approaches to prevent disease and promote health.

Higher income and social status is often associated with better health because high income helps in providing safe housing and fulfilling nutritional needs of an individual and their family. People with high income have more control over their health and lower status groups are often vulnerable to range of disease and stressful situations in life. This was also confirmed by the Second Report on the Health of Canadians which proved that only 47% Canadian in low income group have good health in comparison with 73% Canadians in high income group. Distribution of wealth, income and power determines the level of risk found in a person’s life and working conditions. This makes them more vulnerable to disease and injury rather than behavioral risk factors.  A research study indicated social status is positively associated with physical and mental health functioning scores.

A research study reviewed the relation between income inequality and health. It showed that majority of studies support the facts that health worsens in case of income inequality. People experiencing income equality are victim of violence and poor mental condition. Several challenges also arise in their social gradient that damages their health and leads to adverse social consequences for them. The study indicated taking action to narrow the income gap and address issues of these people (Pickett & Wilkinson, 2015).

Health promotion strategy- The following strategies can be taken for promoting health in people with poor social status-

1. Taking steps to alleviate poverty through the reduction of inequalities in health and income. The Canadian government needs to provide better employment and working conditions to socially disadvantaged group. Legal action is required to enforce employment equity and provide a guaranteed minimum income to these groups.
2. It is also the responsibility of public health department to act upon socioeconomic determinant of health and invest in promotion of health and social development of the community. Denmark’s Programme on Public Health and Promotion is an example where the aim was to reduce social inequality by increased efforts to improve health of disadvantaged group.
3. Another strategy is to create a societal condition where good health is possible for all groups. In this case, the main action will be required in providing economic and social security, healthier working environment, safe environment, active medical care and protection from communicable disease.

Income and Social Status

Personal reflection- I may face many challenges while trying to improve my social status and access to health.  Firstly personal acts as major barrier in improving social status and socially disadvantaged people have low confidence and poor self-esteem. Hence, I need to modify my attitude to deal with injustice in employment and prepare myself in such a way that I get better employment opportunities to improve my social status.

Factors like unemployment and unsafe work condition lead to poor health in people, whereas people who have more control over their work and job demands live healthier and stressful life. Employment has an effect on physical and psychosocial well-being of an individual. If employment does not provide desired benefits and sense of identity to an individual, it leads to adverse impact both on the affected person and his or her family. Hence, adverse health effects are dependent on nature of job and length of exposure to particular job conditions.

Certain laborers and workers have to engage in precarious employment to support their families. Research study by (Landsbergis, Grzywacz, & LaMontagne, 2014) explains that there is rise in precarious employment due to flexible employment provisions. Job insecurity has also increased due to change in employment conditions and the research gave evidence to the fact that workers in lower social class are exposed to greater job insecurities which further translates to occupational health disparities.

Health promotion strategies- The health promotion strategies to improve working conditions in employment are as follows:

1. Designing a motivating work environment can help to provide pleasant working conditions to employees and enhance their mental and physical health. Use of motivational theories concept will help to make appropriate change in work practice and the implementation of effective work designs. This strategy will provide flexibility and control to workers to improve the health as well as professional performance.
2. Environmental hazards and poor safety standards are high in informal work and they lack the necessary awareness to understand health and safety measures. The second health promotion strategy is to educate workers about safety measures in the job by means of health promotion program and teaching them to prevent occupational accidents and disease due to employment.
3. A preventive and promotion approach is needed to establish a link between prevention of accidents and safety as at workplace site. The informal sector should be given adequate support by regulating labour condition and employment opportunity policies in affected place.

Personal reflection- Making changes in my work conditions might turn out to be difficult for me due to issues lack of awareness about environmental and health hazards in my workplace. I may not be able to work according to my convenience due to the lack of support from my seniors and the extra hours and stress in the job might have a negative impact on my health.

Social environment refers to the social network present within a community and the way organization and individual interact to share their resources and build attachment with others. The values and norms in the society and the level of social stability in a community determine its risk or benefit to health. For example the Canadian reports showed that a society with high level of trust among groups have reduce mortality rates and family and social violence is associated short and long-term health impacts.

Research study explains that social variables like ethnicity, immigration status, social networks and support, distribution of social capital and poverty has an impact on health status of individual. Absence of positive social environment is a risk factor for moribity and mortality associated with diseases. It is necessary to analyze the mechanism underlying these social relationships to promote physical and well-being of community (Cacioppo & Cacioppo, 2014).

The following are the strategies to improve negative social environment-

1. Behavioral and social intervention is needed to address public health needs and address socioeconomic and ethnic health disparities. The media and public health marketing might play a role in enhancing the social capital of the community.
2. Review of psychosocial and behavioral interventions in disease process is needed to identify the impact of this approach on health. Hence, with this approach, intervention efforts will focus not only on individual level phenomena related to disease but also on societal level phenomena.
3. Another intervention is to provide supportive environment for health to people in the community and develop the capabilities of citizens to become self-reliant in health. This opportunities for empowerment is required not just in people’s home and workplace, but also in local community.

Personal reflection- Negative social environment may be related to income inequality, lack of social connectedness and poor collective efficacy. Making changes in the negative social environment might be a challenging task for me in the absence of people’s willingness to participate in the welfare of community. Poor support from members might make the health promotion process difficult.

Conclusion

From the report examining the impact of different determinant of health on an individual, it can be concluded that some factors are under the control of people and some are not under the control. In case of personal issues, behavioral intervention and change in attitude might help to promote better health. However, in case of issues like adverse health outcome due to low social class and poor social environment, government action is needed to modify work related and social policies and promote well being of the community.

Reference

Cacioppo, J. T., & Cacioppo, S. (2014). Social relationships and health: The toxic effects of perceived social isolation. Social and personality psychology compass, 8(2), 58-72.

Landsbergis, P. A., Grzywacz, J. G., & LaMontagne, A. D. (2014). Work organization, job insecurity, and occupational health disparities. American journal of industrial medicine, 57(5), 495-515.

Pickett, K. E., & Wilkinson, R. G. (2015). Income inequality and health: a causal review. Social Science & Medicine, 128, 316-326.

WHO | The determinants of health. (2017). Who.int. Retrieved 28 January 2017, from https://www.who.int/hia/evidence/doh/en/