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Remember when I mentioned that the "5" in Public 5 Health stood for the five Social Determinants of Health? Well, this post is going to explain what those are and how they affect public health. Oh, by the way, SDOH is the Social Determinants of Health, just to clear that up.
Health Care Access and Quality
About one in ten Americans do not have health insurance and are more likely to not have a primary care provider or be able to afford the health care services and medications that they need (Healthy People 2030, n.d.).
Increasing health care access is difficult without increasing health care coverage, which was the aim of the ACA, or Obamacare (Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants in Promoting Health and Health Equity | KFF, 2019). By causing everyone to be insured, it would essentially require that everyone had health coverage. This would allow them access to primary care. The problem is, provider availability. How many times have you tried to see your doctor only to be told it will be a week's or month's wait? Frequently, for me. This is because there are too few providers for the population of people using them.
Another way to increase health care access is by providing linguistic and cultural competency (Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants in Promoting Health and Health Equity | KFF, 2019). The reasoning behind this is pretty clear. If people feel heard and understood, they are more likely to seek help and get the help that they need.
Neighborhood and Built Environment
Health and safety risks, like high rates of violence or unsafe water or air, are common within American neighborhoods (Healthy People 2030, n.d.). Minorities and those with low incomes are more likely to face these risks. Things like zip code and geography are good indicators of your risk; however, risk can be mitigated by increases in low-income housing, ease of access to transportation or better walkability of the area, and more parks or playgrounds (Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants in Promoting Health and Health Equity | KFF, 2019).
Social and Community Context
The relationships that we form with the people around us can contribute greatly to our health and well-being (Healthy People 2030, n.d.). Focus on social integration, building support systems, having community engagement, and reducing both discrimination and stress are part of having positive health outcomes (Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants in Promoting Health and Health Equity | KFF, 2019).
Economic Stability
One in ten Americans live in poverty and many are unable to afford things like healthy foods, health care, and housing (Healthy People 2030, n.d.). Things that we see affect the economic stability of a family are employment, income, expenses, debt, medical bills, and support available to them (Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants in Promoting Health and Health Equity | KFF, 2019).
Education Access and Quality
Healthy People 2030 says, "[p]eople with higher levels of education are more likely to be healthier and live longer (n.d.). Things we see affect communities are literacy, language, early childhood education, vocational training, and higher education (Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants in Promoting Health and Health Equity | KFF, 2019).
References
Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants in Promoting Health and Health Equity | KFF. (2019, July 9). KFF. https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/beyond-health-care-the-role-of-social-determinants-in-promoting-health-and-health-equity/
Healthy People 2030, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Retrieved 26 October 2022, from https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/social-determinants-health
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