Health starts in our neighborhoods, schools, communities, homes, and workplaces. While growing, we were taught and advised to take care of ourselves by eating a balanced diet and staying active. As the healthcare system in the United States moves towards a value-based system that primarily focuses on positive results rather than individual treatments and procedures, healthcare professionals and leaders must also incorporate the social determinants of health into these efforts (Gumà, Solé-Auró & Arpino, 2019) . I am grateful and privileged to have come from a middle-class family. My parents were able to complete their college education, and this made it possible for my siblings and me to reside in an environment that didn’t possess any barriers to health, such as substandard housing and lack of safety (Raphael, 2006) . Growing up, we had access to schools, playgrounds, recreation centers, and good hospitals. To top it up all off, we have access to quality education, mass media, and emerging technologies (Raphael, 2006) .
The socioeconomic status and position of my family opened up a lot of opportunities for me in terms of the quality of both my childhood and adulthood, access to education, food security, and social inclusion (Raphael, 2006) . Coming from a privileged family has made it possible for me to have access to quality care that has resulted in improved health outcomes, increased life expectancy and low infant mortality rates (Gumà, Solé-Auró & Arpino, 2019) . Through good urban governance, I have access to better housing and living conditions, efficient waste management systems, access to proper sanitation facilities and safe water, safer neighborhoods and working environments, food security, and access to services such as welfare, education, and health (Raphael, 2006) . These are the social determinants of health that have made it possible to have better health, a reduction in the number of hospital readmissions, and the ability to have routine checkups as recommended by physicians (Gumà, Solé-Auró & Arpino, 2019) .
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References
Gumà, J., Solé-Auró, A., & Arpino, B. (2019). Examining social determinants of health: the role of education, household arrangements, and country groups by gender. BMC Public Health , 19(1). DOI: 10.1186/s12889-019-7054-0
Raphael, D. (2006). Social Determinants of Health: Present Status, Unanswered Questions, and Future Directions. International Journal of Health Services , 36 (4), 651-677. DOI: 10.2190/3mw4-1ek3-dgrq-2crf
