Determinants of Health: Useful Resources
- Jennifer Beaudry
- Jun 10, 2018
- 2 min read
My first resource is Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts (Mikkonen and Raphael, 2010). What I like about this resource it that it gives a review of 14 social determinants of health that exist in Canada, which are: aboriginal status, disability , early life, education, employment and working conditions, food insecurity, health services, gender, housing, income and income distribution, race, social exclusion, social safety net, and unemployment and job security. A review of each of these determinants is provided, but what I find most appealing is that for each of these elements they list policy implications, and concrete actionable ways in which to improve these conditions in Canadian society.
In 2016 the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) released a summary report titled "The Ethic of Equity and Sustainability" (Schneider, 2016). Local Health Involvement Groups (LHIGs) and the Francophone community were consulted and asked to provide feedback on 10 questions such as "what obligation does the health care system have to address the differences in health outcomes that currently exist?" "What would our health care system look like if we addressed the underlying causes of unequal health outcomes?" "What is the most important thing that you feel that he WRHA should consider/keep in mind?" The goal of this exercise was to get the public's perspective on what they see as priorities for health equity based on the communities needs. At the end of this process the group identified 11 recommendations to the WRHA board on how to improve health equity in the region. I chose to include this resource as it has direct impact in my current role within the WRHA.
In Braveman and Gottlieb's (2014) article, it is discussed that there has been tremendous advances in knowledge regarding the link between the social determinants of heath and resulting health and/or chronic conditions. It identifies the challenge of linking specific determinants to health related outcomes due to the complexity of the social setting and also due to the fact that the affects of these determinants some times take decades to play out.
References
Schneider. C (2016). The Ethics of Equity and Sustainability" Summary Report. Retrieved June 4, 2018 from http://www.wrha.mb.ca/about/engagement/lhig/files/SummaryLHIGEquityReport2016.pdf
Braveman, P. & Gottlieb, L. (2014). The Social Determinants of Health: It’s Time to Consider the Causes of the Causes. Nursing in 3D: Diversity, Disparities, and Social Determinants Public Health Reports Volume 129 (Supplement 2), pages 19-31
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