Healthcare: Determinants of Health

Running head: DETERMINANATS OF HEALTH 1
Healthcare: Determinants of Health
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

DETERMINANATS OF HEALTH 2
Introduction
The quality of life that human beings leave are dependent on various factors. The
factors in question arise from the major categories of economic, social, cultural, and even
political platforms. The determinants of health, therefore, refer to any of the environmental,
economic, social, or personal arrays that have a significant influence on the health of a person
or a population (Cedeño-Laurent, 2018). The determinants of health are responsible for the
health differences between or amongst a people who are found within the same or different
ecological niche. Some people may be highly vulnerable to contracting diseases more than
others. The health or living standards of people can, however, be improved as long as the
determinants are appropriately dealt with. For example, if the social determinants like poverty
may be adjusted to through reduction of educational costs and spreading employment
opportunities through the creation of such opportunities as outlined by Chen, Wan, Yang &
Zou (2015). Encouragement and improvement of agriculture and business may help cope
with the economic factors while coming up with viable environmental management and
conservation policies may reduce pollution, thus reducing the rate of morbidity due to
pollution-based diseases.
With regards to overcrowded or poorly constructed inner-city apartments, the study
seeks to identify the various health hazards related with such a structure of housing, analyze
their impacts and the level of harm that can pose on the residents or the entire community.
The Health Hazards Associated with Overcrowding or Poorly Constructed, Inner City
Apartments
The conditions of tall buildings in cities should attract a serious attention of the
construction authorities. Some of the contractors often build substandard houses which lead
to susceptibility of the buildings posing severe health risks to the residents. The buildings in

DETERMINANATS OF HEALTH 3
the cities are also characterized by overcrowding, which fails to give space for some activities
and may consequently attract several health risks. Apart from the physical activities like
cycling, which are put at stake in an overcrowded environment, some of the natural benefits
are also blocked (Cunningham & Fox Koob, 2019). Nature provides air and water in a good
state. However, when the natural environment is highly congested, the quality of the two
items would be abridged, leading to potential infections. Some of the health hazards
associated with the congestion and poor construction of houses in cities are discussed below.
1. Overcrowding and Poor Development Lead to Air Pollution
One of the most significant problems facing the major cities in the world today is the
problem of unhealthy/contaminated air. People who live in the apartments built in town do
burn substances when they are cooking or doing some other things. When there are very
many people releasing substances into restricted airspace, the air around such a place
becomes contaminated. The more they release the burnt substances, the more the air gets
contaminated. It is reported through research works that buildings contribute over 25% of the
total air pollution in major cities (Péter et al. 2015). The second idea is that many buildings
exist because of the increased number of people in cities. With the increased number of
people, the consumption rate and the rate of waste disposal increases. Congestion of
buildings does not give space to dispose of waste materials sustainably. Therefore, the
residents of such places will throw away wastes in a mismanaged manner. Poor waste
disposal does not only affect the environment but also worsens the quality of air around such
sites.
An example is given in the article by Dow (2015)) shows that in one of the Australian
cities, students were found to pile up in groups and rent houses to reduce the costs of renting
such dwellings. A two bedroom apartment contained up to fifteen beds showing that all the

DETERMINANATS OF HEALTH 4
fifteen students lived in such a room. In such a case, the room can be considered very small,
or the number of occupants exceeds the original air content of the room. Therefore, many
students can suffer because of breathing the non-fresh air has been used by other occupants.
Overcrowding is a threat to the quality of air because nobody cares about the neighbor but
instead, everybody thrives in their capacities to acquire what is right for them.
Poorly constructed houses usually emit dust particles emanating from the cement that
was not adequately mixed. The particles contaminate the fresh air and may form a basis for
the contraction of respiratory relayed infections. Apart from contaminating the air, such
buildings are a threat to the residents as they live in fear of collapsing.
2. Increased Cold in Indoor Conditions
The land in the cities is not large enough to support buildings which would
sufficiently accommodate the city’s population. The constructors, therefore, opt to build
many-storied structures which extend to higher heights to help create more rooms. The space
between one block and the other is minimal, thus leading to the situation of congestion in
such a city. The problem does not only come from congestion but the cold environment that
is associated with it. There are mostly two approaches that can be used to explain the rise of
cold conditions in the cities. The first approach, which is geographically based, is the fact that
the higher you go, the colder it becomes. The buildings extend to higher heights making the
topmost apartments to be very cold (Clay, 2016). The second approach is based on
observation and application, which depends on the weight of the building materials. The
congested buildings block the sun, and at the same time, they are made up of massive blocks
which encourage cold conditions.
Cold conditions have been linked with the spread of several diseases. Most of the
human systems work best under the optimum temperatures. The cardiovascular system is one