Addressing Social Determinants of Health by Primary Healthcare Professionals

Running head: PRIMARY HEALTHCARE
PRIMARY HEALTHCARE
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PRIMARY HEALTHCARE
With the advancement of technologies and healthcare researches, healthcare
professionals now adopt effective and successful procedures of treatments for different forms
of disorders. These have helped in increasing the life expectancy of people but have failed
miserably in ensuring quality of life of disorder-affected individuals (Freeman et al., 2016).
Nowadays people are living longer with chronic disorders but are not living better quality
lives. Hence, primary healthcare centres need to develop the role where they can ensure
proper interventions that enhance their longevity along with proper quality lifestyle required
to stay fitter (Daly, Speedy & Jackson, 2017). However, present day researchers have found
out only following the biomedical model of care focusing on the biological determinants of
health will not result in successful outcomes. The various social determinants of health that
indirectly affect the health of people needs to be taken in consideration and interventions
need to be developed that also address the social determinant of health (Baum et al., 2016).
The assignment will thereby show how addressing social determinants of health by primary
healthcare professionals can result in bringing out huge changes in quality of lives of people
in nation ensuring them safe future.
Strategic outcome 3 of National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework discusses
about a sub-point 3.1 that focuses in the importance of identification of the social
determinants of health by the primary healthcare professionals that result in poorer outcomes
in patients. Researchers have found out those social determinants of health, when managed
successfully can successfully prevent many chronic disorders successfully (Newman et al.,
2015). Similarly, this strategy had efficiently identified that education levels, employment,
housing conditions, transports and road structures as well as literacy levels of people can
affect their health conditions. Studies have found that diabetes and issues with obesity are
found to be higher among the people belonging to low socioeconomic sections. People with
poor health literacy levels are seen to suffer more from obesity and cardiovascular disorders

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PRIMARY HEALTHCARE
(Thomas et al., 2015). People with low levels of income are seen to be higher consumers of
alcohol and drugs. Different social determinants of health are indirectly associated with
poorer health conditions and hence primary healthcare professionals need to advocate about
each of the conditions to the government so that people get the opportunity to enjoy quality
lives.
According to World Health Organisation, Equity can be defined as the complete
absence of remediable as well as avoidable differences among different groups of people
irrespective of these groups are defined socially, demographically, economically as well as
geographically. Reduction of the health inequities is significant as health is fundamental
human rights (Moore et al., 2015). Therefore, progressive realisation is one of the most
effective ways for elimination of the inequalities that result from differences in health status
of people. On the other hand, social justice can be based on the different important concepts
of human rights as well as equity and can be explained as the procedures in which the human
rights are manifested in everyday lives at each levels of the society. This is also based on the
effective maintenance of justice by the equal distribution of wealth, opportunities and even
privileges among the societies.
In the nation of Australia, it is found that not all people belonging to different
ethnicity, background, classes or religion experience similar opportunities. It has been found
that people belonging to low socio-economic classes cannot complete their higher education
and therefore, they cannot take correct healthcare decisions. Moreover, lack of complete
knowledge and education often makes individuals undertake poor lifestyle choices that make
them vulnerable to healthcare services. Lack of education directly affects employment
opportunities and hence low income cannot allow people to afford necessary resources in life
leading to different disorders (Ball et al., 2015). Cheap calorie dense foods bought by people
make them more prone to various chronic ailments as they cannot afford organic foods that