Social Determinants Of Public Health

Emma’s day began like any other. She woke up in her college dorm room at The George Washington University covered in her down comforter and sheets, sunken into her tempurpedic mattress topper. Getting out of her warm bed and into the crisp cold air of the open dorm room air was tough. Winter in D.C. was turning out to be colder than she expected. She breathed in the fresh air before her, and walked to her Brita water filter to get herself a glass of water. While drinking the crystal clear water, Emma scrolled through her instagram feed and saw a picture that reminded her of her mom. She proceeded to give her mom a call. After she hung up the phone, Emma went to the bathroom and washed her hands, brushed her teeth, and used her favorite mouthwash.
Behavior. It is the first social determinant of health and it can be described as the actions that an individual performs that can either promote disease in their lives or protect them from it. Emma’s behaviors throughout her day were very beneficial for her health because they protected her from disease. Actions like drinking filtered water, eating nutritional food, and exercising will prove to be very beneficial in the future for Emma’s health. One very important thing when it comes to this social determinant of health is developing good habits, and it seems as though Emma is on the right track. Infection is next on the list of social determinants of health. Most of the population knows that infection has a very large effect on the spread of disease. By drinking filtered water, washing her hands, doing her laundry, and brushing her teeth, Emma prevented infection from starting within her body. Practicing good hygiene is very important in avoiding
One major way that the “built environment” (the environment that humans created) affected her is when she uses the crosswalk on her way to and from the gym. This environmental factor prevents mortality. Medical care is obviously a very important factor to consider when speaking of disease. In Emma’s day, she takes birth control, which is a prescription medication. Clearly, without access to care, Emma would be without the resources to make choices in her reproductive health. The last social determinant of health happens to be Socioeconomic-cultural. This includes education, income, and occupation status. When she woke up on top of her tempurpedic mattress topper, in her safe dorm room at college, drinking filtered water, calling her mom, changing into clean clothes, getting an education, and taking birth control, it was very evident that Emma’s socio-economic status made it easier to prevent disease. Also, her culture allows the use of birth control which is also important to note. These 7 social determinants of health affected Emma’s day without her even knowing it. Often times, the effects of the social determinants on a person is tied to the socio-economic status of that person. Unfortunately not everyone has a choice in that