Social Health Determinants: Food Safety

Running head: SOCIAL HEALTH DETERMINANTS: FOOD SAFETY
SOCIAL HEALTH DETERMINANTS: FOOD SAFETY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

SOCIAL HEALTH DETERMINANTS: FOOD SAFETY1
Step 3: Healthy People Objective: Health Behavior Theory Template
Project: Healthy People Topic: FS-2.1 Reduce the number of outbreak associated
infections due to Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157, or Campylobacter, Listeria, or
Salmonella species associated with food commodity groups: to reduce the outbreaks
associated with food borne illnesses across food groups like beef, fruits and nuts, dairy, poultry
and green leafy vegetables as a result of contamination by the above mentioned microbial
strains by at-risk or priority populations (Healthy People, 2014).
Priority Population: Women, especially those who are pregnant, are adolescents or play the
role of the homemaker at homes, and also those who may be belonging to low income groups.
This is because of the prevalent role women played by women in the household with regards to
preparing food or cooking for all members of the family, as well as with consideration of the
fact that women are key contributors to the nation’s future population (Jackson & Meah,
2018).
Locale/Setting: Community healthcare organization/community health center or the
healthcare centers located across schools, universities, colleges or hospitals in the locality.
Level of Influence: The proposed healthcare behavior change program will comprise of an
educational workshop delivering education on the consequences of food borne illnesses, the
importance of implementing food safety practices and strategies which can be performed to
ensure the same. To ensure large scale community wide dissemination of information, the
educational workshop will be conducted in the community level in the form of a community
workshop or community educational campaign or community. Implementation of a

SOCIAL HEALTH DETERMINANTS: FOOD SAFETY2
community level educational campaign or workshop will not only enhance the capability of
public health professionals to understand the unique needs of the community but also facilitate
a sense of harmony, collaboration and unity across the members of the community, which in
turn will result in long term maintenance of positive community health outcomes (Kendall et
al., 2017).
Health Behavior Theory/ Model: Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change
Rationale:
Reason for choosing this topic: According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC, 2018), every year, approximately 48 million suffer from a foodborne illness of which
12800 need to undergo hospitalization and 3000 individuals succumb to the same. Further, the
CDC (2018) denotes children, the elderly, and individuals with compromised immune systems
(such as those with HIV/AIDS or undergoing transplantation and pregnant women as the key
groups with highest susceptibility to suffer from foodborne illnesses. This intervention will
target women simply because not only are they the determinants of the health a nation’s future
population, they also play a major role in cooking food for the entire household. Women most
often, due to familial pressures, end up consuming cold leftovers which not only increase their
risk of illness but are also likely to pave the way for the entire household to become infected
due to their role in managing familial responsibilities. Foodborne illnesses are highly
preventable if one follows personal hygiene and correct food storage and cooking practices
(Barkley & Viveiros, 2016).
Thus, the high susceptibility and consequences of women suffering from foodborne illnesses