The Influence of Social Determinants on Health

Running head: EFFECT OF SOCIAL DETERMINANTS ON HEALTH 1
Effect Of Social Determinants On Health
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EFFECT OF SOCIAL DETERMINANTS ON HEALTH 2
The social determinants of health are considered as the financial and the social condition
which influence dissimilarities in health status between individuals and groups. It is a
complex circumstance in which people are born and grown up. They mainly consist of factors
such as socio-economic status, neighbourhood, education and social support systems along
with provision of health care, food availability(Healthy People, 2020). The circumstances
gives rise to societal divisions which are responsible for creating health disparities among
people on the basis of social, economic status, ethnicity. Addressing the social determinants
of health is vital for improving health and lowering the inequalities and discrepancies in
health care.
The social determinants lies as a underlying cause for most diseases among people. Social
determinants gives rise to health inequalities and social disparities among people, which in
turn, affects the health access to the people belonging to lower social or economic class, who
remain deprived of health services and treatment, thus leading to increased morbidity. For
instance, having a poor health condition or lack of proper education can affect the
opportunities for employment, which results in restrain of income(Healthy People, 2020).
People with a low income will have limited access to healthcare which leads to hardship.
Hardship results in stress, which in turn, encourages an individual to opt for unhealthy modes
of coping stress such as substance abuse leading to mental disorders or overeating unhealthy
foods causing gastrointestinal problems or obesity.
Transmission takes place once an infectious pathogen leaves its host through “the portal of
exit”, carried by some “mode of transmission” and enters a new succeptible host through the
“portal of entry” to cause infection. This is called the chain of infection. It consist of the six
components: infectious agents or pathogen, reservoir or previous host, portal of exit, modes
of transmission, portal of entry and new host(Schrank & Branch-Elliman, 2017). The
pathogen is the disease causing agent, which is responsible for the infection, the reservoir is