Social determinants of health Flashcards

Question

Health equity

Answer 1

“Equity is the absence of unfair, avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically or by other dimensions of inequality (e.g. sex, gender, ethnicity, disability, or sexual orientation).” “Health equity is achieved when everyone can attain their full potential for health and well-being.” ~ World Health Organisation

Answer 2

● “Mothers in the lowest socioeconomic areas were 30% more likely to have a low birthweight baby than mothers in the highest socioeconomic areas.” ● “Unemployed people were 1.6 times as likely to use cannabis, 2.4 times as likely to use meth/amphetamines and 1.8 times as likely to use ecstasy as employed people.” ● “People living in the lowest socioeconomic areas were more than twice as likely to delay seeing—or not see—a dental professional due to cost compared with those living in the highest socioeconomic areas.”

Answer 3

● A person's health is “determined” by many factors, seen and unseen, that are often beyond their individual control. ● The “determinants of health” are the broad range of social, economic, environmental, and biological factors that determine individual and population health. ● The determinants of health affect someone's likelihood of receiving prevention and treatment for a disease, and/or for having, or being exposed to, a risk factor for a disease. ● The “social determinants of health” are a subset of the determinants of health that concern a person's place in society, their income, education, employment, and for some people, discrimination and racism.

Answer 4

“Health and health equity are determined by the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, play and age” ~ World Health Organisation

Answer 5

● It is because health is socially determined that we care about health equity. ● If health was purely up to the individual, we wouldn’t be worried about health equity, because everyone would have the same opportunity to be healthy. ● But because health is socially determined, and because the social determinants affect people differently, different people have more or less opportunity to be healthy – and this inequitable.

Answer 6

● “Australians living in the lowest socioeconomic areas lived about 3 years less than those living in the highest areas.” ● “The 20% of Australians living in the lowest socioeconomic areas were 1.6 times as likely as the highest 20% to have at least two chronic health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes.” ● “People reporting the worst mental and physical health (those in the bottom 20%) were twice as likely to live in a poor-quality or overcrowded dwelling.”

Answer 7

Many of the social determinants of health are linked to income ● Low-income ● Poor ● Socio-economic status (SES) ● Social gradient ● Poverty

Answer 8

● Different theories of poverty: ○ Individual deficiencies ○ Cultural belief systems ○ Economic, social, political distortions or discrimination ○ Geographical ○ Cumulative/cyclical ● “Community development [should] address the complex and overlapping sources of poverty [rather than] address a single theory”

Answer 9

● Socio-economic status is itself a determinant of many of the other determinants of health ● Socio-economic status is linked to… ○ Housing and the built environment ○ Nutrition ○ Education ○ Access to health care ○ Social exclusion

Answer 10

● Absolute poverty = when people have insufficient income to afford the necessities of life, such as food, clothing, and shelter ○ The World Bank defines “extreme poverty” as those who live on less than $2.15 per day ○ This is known as the “international poverty line” and allows comparison across countries ● Relative poverty = relates to the economic status of members within a society ○ People are “poor” if they fall below prevailing standards of living in a given societal context

Answer 11

● Poverty and ill-health are intertwined ● Poverty leads to ill-health, and ill-health keeps poor people poor

Answer 12

● “Health and health equity are determined by the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, play, and age.” (World Health Organisation) ● In Australia, and around the world, people of different race, education level, and income level have significantly different health outcomes. ● The concept of socio-economic status (SES) encompasses many of the social determinants of health, and is a notable predictor of someone's health. ● Poverty and ill-health are intertwined and can create a cycle that is difficult to get out of. ● To improve health, we need to improve people's conditions of daily life, which involves tackling inequitable distributions of power, money, and resources – globally, nationally, and locally

Answer 13

Many of the social determinants of health are also linked to race / racism

Answer 14

● Improve the conditions of daily life – the circumstances in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. ● Tackle the inequitable distribution of power, money, and resources – the structural drivers of those conditions of daily life – globally, nationally, and locally. ● Measure the problem, evaluate action, expand the knowledge base, develop a workforce that is trained in the social determinants of health, and raise public awareness about the social determinants of health.

Answer 15

I. Overview of Global Health 1. Unit introduction, definitions and globalisation 2. Global health trends and burden of disease II. Determinants of Global Health 3. Social determinants of health 4. Nutrition transition 5. Water, sanitation and hygiene 6. Climatic impacts and global health These topics can be included in the mid-semester exam in week 7

Answer 16

“The determinants of health include: * the social and economic environment, * the physical environment, and * the person’s individual characteristics and behaviours. 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 control many of the determinants of health.

Social determinants of health Flashcards

(43 cards)