Impact of Unemployment on Health of Syrian Refugees

Running head: SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
Social determinants of health
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1SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
Introduction:
Globalization is the process of interconnectedness of countries, business and people
across the globe through proper communication exchange, cultural diffusions and economic
integration. However, the process of globalization is having significant impact on health
outcomes too (Bhavsar, Zhang & Bhugra, 2018). The changing international environment
following globalization supports and undermines health too. As this contributes to inequalities
for certain vulnerable group, the WHO promoted a global approach to health services by
recommending that action on determinant of health (SDH) is the best premise to improve health
and reduce inequalities for people. The ambition of WHO is to create a global movement for
social determinants of health and health equity (Marmot, 2011). As impact of psychological and
material health conditions was acknowledged, this paper aims to comprehensively evaluate the
impact of a chosen SDH on health of particular population group and find out the impact of
chosen SDH on the target population group. This will help to understand the level of support
needed by the group and the ways to address social gradients of disadvantage on the selected
population group.
Social determinants of health and selected population group:
SDH is termed as the conditions in which people, live, grow and work and the factors that
affects their opportunities to lead a healthy life. Healthy living circumstances are created by
engaging in fair distribution of finance, power and resources globally and internationally. Some
of the important SDH includes housing, employment, education, income and social status and
social support networks (Baker et al., 2018). These SDHs are the cause behind health inequities
and disparities in health outcome because of the unfair distribution of SDH conditions between

2SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
and within countries. For example, with the increase in globalization, nature and demand for job
has changed resulting in threat of unemployment for certain population group. In addition, the
quality of housing has a significant impact on health and well-being of an individual (Wang et
al., 2018). This justifies the rationale behind developing the WHO Global Commission on the
Social Determinants of Health (CSDH). The Commission has worked to identify inequalities in
people’s living condition such as work, living and ageing drive by unequal distribution of power,
money and resources (Marmot, 2011).
Donkin et al. (2018) gives the evidence that there is widespread support for a SDH
approach. The impact of SDH on health status is understood from the fact that social and
environmental determinants contribute to about 45-60% variation in health status. Jayasinghe
(2015) has explained the pathway that lead to development of health inequities from social
environment. This includes social mobility, social causation and life course perspective. Social
causation involves unequal distribution of psychosocial and behavioural factors leading to health
inequities. Hence, single SDH or intermediary determinants have impact on health outcomes.
Therefore, prioritizing the most vulnerable group who have poor access to a specific SDH is
critical to critically understand the impact of that SDH and health outcome and accordingly
develop tailor made strategies to address SDH related disadvantages for them.
For this report, the chosen SDH group is income or employment and the chosen
population group is Syrian refugees. The main rationale behind taking this population group is
that the living conditions of Syrian refugees make them more vulnerable to social disparities.
Since the initiation of the Syrian conflict in 2011, millions of Syrian refugees have fled to
neighbouring countries leading to the largest refugees crisis post World War II. They have fled to
countries like Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Europe and Greece. This form of migrants leaves

3SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
thousands of Syrian migrants without proper employment opportunities and access to urgent and
emergency health care service (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016). Hence,
reviewing the impact of income or working conditions on health status of this population group
is critical to take adequate action to promote health.
Impact of chosen SDH on population group:
This population group is negatively affected by poor working condition or poor
opportunities for employment. The rate of unemployment and poor working condition for Syrian
refugee is a major concern and this has been seen because of the onset of civil unrest and war in
Syria and resettlement of Syrians in other countries (U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, 2016). Fallah, Krafft and Wahba (2019) gives the evidence that because of large influx
of Syrian refugees in Jordan, native employment rate as well as employment opportunities for
Syrian refugees has been disrupted. As Syrian refugees had to flee their country because of
violence and conflict, it resulted in shift in exogenous labour supply of many host country. This
shift in labor market due to migration is the major cause behind poor income and working
conditions for the group. They failed to get appropriate or desired level of work as their skills
level and characteristics did not matched with the skills required for job in native countries.
Hence, it can be said that Syrian refugees were exposed to challenging life circumstance which
forced them to migrate and become vulnerable to unemployment issues and poor health
outcomes. Wickramage et al. (2018) argues that migration and health are two high and
internationally recognized public health priority because as many migrants are forced to work in
precarious employment conditions and the migration trajectories have adverse impact on health
outcomes of people. Therefore, the conditions associated with migration and poor unemployment
is the cause behind increased vulnerability to poor health.