Poor health is complicated because it does involve not only genes and germs but also circumstances of people's lives and their personal and cultural characteristics. Their towns, communities, work, leisure, home conditions, and access to schools and education and health care influence people’s chances of healthy and flourishing lives. As a result, good health opportunities are unequally distributed in societies, causing health inequities and disparities. Overcoming these issues requires acting upon their root causes, which are the social determinants of health that encompass unequal distribution of income, power, and goods and services in society.
Social Determinants of Health
Social circumstances, including people’s ages, and birth, growth, living and working areas, are among the determinants of health. They consist of societal and economic conditions such as status, employment, education, support networks, neighborhood characteristics, influencing communities, and people's well-being. People’s socio-economic positions such as access to resources, power, and money shape these conditions, whose influence further comes from political and socio-economic factors such as culture, politics, and societal values (Marmot & Allen, 2014). Therefore, elements such as occupation, income, or education form persons’ socio-economic situations, impacting their health. As a result, communities face high levels of health disparities, whereby certain people access better health care than others (Artiga & Hinton, 2018). Reduced health equity also occurs because not all people will have fair and just opportunities to be healthy. For instance, parents who dropped from high school are likely to live in places with exposed garbage, less safety, and substandard housing. Their children may not access playgrounds, parks, libraries, or recreational centers, which might affect their growth. The resulting stress might negatively affect their lifespan as the environmental issues around them continually cause multi-generational impacts. However, addressing these social determinants of health (SDoH) can reduce health disparities while improving health equity resulting from economic and social disadvantages, thus improving overall health.
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Reducing Health Disparities and Improving Health Equity by Addressing SDoH
Health disparities have a negative effect on people that continuously experience significant economic or social obstacles to health. Therefore, it is a health difference that is connected to economic or social disadvantage. The hindrances arise from discrimination or exclusions characteristics such as geographic location, socio-economic status, ethnicity or race, and sexual orientation. Reducing this health difference and acquiring fair and just opportunities to well-being require removing such health obstacles and their consequences, including lack of access to safe environments, quality housing and education, fair pay, health care, and overall powerlessness (Mastroianni, Kahn & Kass, 2019). Handling social determinants of health is the primary approach towards reducing health disparities and improving health equity. It involves incorporating various initiatives to increase focus on the health care system and non-health sectors.
Family Physicians
Family physicians have a significant role in acting on SDoH since they provide underserved populations with high-quality health care. They can work alongside their community members and teams to understand how patients are affected by various social elements and act on their needs to improve their physical and mental well-being. These medical professionals can research the health inequities and disparities affecting their respective regions and raise the prominence of the problems among policymakers and the public (American Academy of Family Physicians, 2020). Consequently, they can advocate for public policies that act on SDoH and thus reduce wellness inequities. They can create a practice culture whose focus is on valuing health equity by applying wellness literacy standards and cultural proficiency. Family physicians can also acknowledge the organizations that propel health equity in various communities, which involves understanding the communities' health agendas.
Policies
Applications of certain public policies can significantly address social determinants of health and other health inequities and disparities. So, there should be payment and regulatory policies that encouraging the establishment and growth of physician practices in most affected areas. Administrations should incorporate programs that inspire multiple health care professionals to provide services in such areas (American Academy of Family Physicians, 2020). All governing bodies at federal, state, and local levels should adopt the Health in All Policies plan since it aims to propel the policymaking process by incorporating community input, evidence-based information, and fitness implications. These three aspects provide ample knowledge on how decisions regarding policies, laws, and regulations impact mental and physical well-being. Since accessing healthy and affordable food also affects people's education, well-being, and development, there is a need for federal nutrition programs.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and other institutions should facilitate medical education so that physicians can tailor treatments that address barriers to better care. According to Cheney (2019), this process involves creating awareness and adjusting by pursuing strategies that can amend clinical care, connecting people with community and government resources, and investing in assets that impact health outcomes. Incorporating home visitation programs during pregnancy and childhood ensures that families acquire the skills and resources to raise children who are ready to learn and also socially, physically, and emotionally healthy. Support for homeless people and anti-poverty programs can also address SDoH by lifting victims out of poverty.
Conclusion
Social determinants of health are critical drivers of wellness disparities and inequities. Reducing these impacts requires taking multiple actions such as advocating to increase awareness among the community members and policymakers while providing the underserved with quality health care. Health organizations can collaborate with administrations and health care systems to create policies and practices that focus on the factors leading to poor physical and mental wellness differences.
References
American Academy of Family Physicians. (2020). Advancing Health Equity by Addressing the Social Determinants of Health in Family Medicine (Position Paper). AAFP. Retrieved from https://www.aafp.org/about/policies/all/social-determinants-health-family-medicine.html
Artiga, S. & Hinton, E. (2018). Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants in Promoting Health and Health Equity. KFF. Retrieved from 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/
Cheney, C. (2019). 5 Ways Healthcare Organizations can Address Social Determinants of Health. Health Leaders. Retrieved from https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/clinical-care/5-ways-healthcare-organizations-can-address-social-determinants-health
Marmot, M., & Allen, J. J. (2014). Social determinants of health equity. American journal of public health, 104 Suppl 4(Suppl 4), S517–S519. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302200
Mastroianni, A. C., Kahn, J. P. & Kass, N. E. (2019). The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics. Oxford University Press
