Social determinants of Health Report

Running head: SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
‘MEALS ON WHEELS’: SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
Introduction
Social determinants of health are conditions in which an individual is born, grown, learn,
live, work, age and dies. These determinants affects several aspects of that individual’s life such
as health outcomes, quality of life, and ability to grow both mentally and economically. These
determinants also affects the sense of security and wellbeing of the people (World Health
Organization, 2014). Depending on these determinants, the money, resources and power is being
distributed to local, national and international levels. However, the most common disparities in
social determinants of the health are being observed in the matter of health. The prime difference
that leads to disparities regarding to health in countries are resources and availability of nutrition,
resourceful markets and social support (Riekert, Ockene & Pbert, 2013). Therefore, the chosen
social determinant of health is food insecurity influenced by inadequate health, nutrition and
social support.
The major social determinants of health is influenced by several factors such as the place,
the state and the environment, genetics, income and education level and so on. Higher income
and better education leads people to avail better health choices and better nutritional options
however, illiteracy and lower socio-economic status let people fall sick due to malnutrition or
having less knowledge about the nutritional requirement for our body (Allen et al., 2014). Hence,
this critical assessment is going to discuss an influencing factor of the major social determinant
of health, nutrition and social support with the help of a service called ‘Meals on Wheels’.
Further, with the help of evidences will describe the way this influencing factor affects the health
of population. Further, according to the data analysis, this discussion will point out few
recommendations that need to be made to make this service more effective.

2SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
The organization and service
The ‘Meals on Wheels’association of America is the oldest and largest national
community based nutrition program. The organization ‘Meals on Wheels’America is a non-profit
organization that provides the senior citizens of America with their quality services. The prime
aim of this organization is to serve all the American senior citizen with nourished lives with
dignity and independence. Their sole mission is to empower different local communities with
nutritious food so that they could spend their life with ease and comfort. The service has a
glorified history of serving more than 5000 community based nutrition organizations across the
states. The organization not only delivers for the hunger of the food, but provides aid or funding,
leaderships and education or advocacy support to people in need and helps to empower the entire
community associated with that person. There are nearly more than two million volunteers
attached with the organization (Meals on Wheels America, 2017). This food service, Meals on
Wheels provides food to socially isolated older people for improving their physical health
addressing the issue of food insecurity. It also supports those aged people who are unable to cook
ensuring food security and addressing social isolation.
The oldest service of ‘Meals on Wheels’ was originated in the United Kingdom during
the Blitz. This was a very tough time for the entire population as trillions of people were
homeless and unable to cook their food. Then a group of females started cooking for them.
However, the name was coined during the world war two and involved people who are aware of
social determinant of health and the importance of nutrition. Currently, this service is serving in
countries like Australia, Canada, Ireland and the UK.

3SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
Literature review
From the very beginning, efforts that have been made to positively affect the healthcare
system and health outcome in America have been determined as the key enhancer of health.
However, according to the research, improving the population health and achieving equity is also
important to enhance the health if population. This is done as such interventions affect the social,
economic, and environmental factors that enhances the health of population. ‘Meals on Wheels’
is one such program driven to empower the seniors of different communities who are struggling
for their food, nutrition and health. According to the Zhu and An (2013), the research they
conducted was to identify impact of home delivery food or ‘Meals on Wheels’ service on the diet
and nutrition of the older population. The result that they observed after the study was very
positive about the service. The service reduces the food insecurity and nutritional imbalance
across population and improved their dietary adherence and quality of life. According to the
Texas fact sheet, there are 927556 older population, who are isolated or living alone, 771,830 are
suffering from hunger and more than 1 million are suffering from near poverty. According to
Theeke et al., (2012), meals on wheels, services have helped to support those seniors in such a
way that they are able to live their life on their own. They are now been able to have food
depending on their nutritional requirements helping to serve other elders as well by accepting the
self-volunteering option.
According to Boulos, Salameh & Barberger‐Gateau, (2017) due to social isolation, there
is high risk for malnutrition among the elderly population. Loneliness is an emerging issue
among the older population that has severe impact on their health, nutritional status. The results
of the study suggested that elderly people above the age of 65 years suffer from malnutrition due
to inadequate nutritional care. This is a major emerging clinical and public health issue that