Reflection on Social Determinants of Health

Running head: REFLECTION ON SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH 1
Reflection on Social Determinants of Health
Student’s Name
University

REFLECTION ON SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH 2
Reflection on Social Determinants of Health
Social determinants of heath form important elements in understanding how the kind of
life and environment that people live in shapes their health patterns. These are linked to the
social and economic conditions within the population and how they influence individuals and
group differences in health status (Saunders, Watanabe, & Wong, 2015). The fact that people
have different status in society means that they face different life challenges when dealing with
the issues that affect them. People are constrained by life conditions that they live in since these
conditions shape the way they afford health care and their health seeking behaviour. This essay is
a reflection on PUBH630 content in terms of social determinants of health, how they relate to
existing knowledge and how they inform future practice.
From the class content that I covered, I learned that social determinants of health can be
applied globally since the issues that affect health exist across the globe. From the learning, I
discovered that the environment that people live in shapes their responses to health by all means.
From the concept of habitation, I learned that the environment shapes the health and wellbeing of
people and the community through promoting harmony and the way the city of Melbourne is
organized (Frimpong, 2014). Every aspect that exists in our environment affects health in one
way or the other. The housing approach is an indicator of safety since it presents or reduces risks
and hazards that people get exposed.
From the analysis I discovered that income is the mother of all social determinants of
health since it determines the ability of the individual to choose a safer environment that is less
likely to expose them to hazards (Brcic, Eberdt, & Kaczorowski, 2011). For example, those who
can afford their won houses live and better conditions as compared to those in rental houses.
Zangerle (2016) suggests that people with higher-income have greater control of the environment

REFLECTION ON SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH 3
thus creating better conditions that reduce any hazards that they can face within the environment
that they live in. On the other hand, those living in rented houses have lesser choices since it is
difficult for them to shape the environment the way they want. They face challenges like
overcrowding which increases mortality, noise pollution and other hazards that they get exposed
to.
Further, from the life course perspective, social determinants of health can be used to
predict the onset patterns of disease since the social determinants that people live in accumulate
to increase the probability of developing certain diseases. This is seen in strategies used by the
WHO and CDC in developing mechanisms for addressing certain health challenges (McNeil,
Guirguis-Younger, Dilley, Turnbull, & Hwang, 2013). Such diseases include heart disease,
obesity, diabetes and stroke. Studies into the environmental conditions and childhood
antecedents of onset of diseases can be used to determine the prevalence of certain health
diseases in some populations.
Since income shapes the conditions that people live in, I learned that sensitivity to health
issues increases with the status of the individual. People from poor backgrounds are less
sensitive to health-related issues since they have many problems that they have to deal with.
Further, the environmental conditions like sharing of toilets and other resources makes it difficult
for them to lead a healthy life style. Therefore the factors that affects such a population are
different from the ones that affect those from higher-income households. The higher the income,
the better the conditions that one lives in and the lesser the health-related challenges.
The social determinants of health exist within the communities that we live in and vary
from one place to another, practitioners need to understand the mechanisms that can be put in
place to address these challenges. I believe that governments cannot put enough measures in