Abstract: Determinants of health & wellness in an individual, why some people are healthier

than others and the rationale behind it. The factors are many and some are interconnected, while
others go considerably beyond access to health services.

DETER!"A"T# $% &EA'T&&(E''"E## !" A" !"D!)!D*A'
INTRODUCTION

The determinants of health in the global world populations is as a result of life style,
racial+ethnic group, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, age, mental health, cognitive,
sensory, se-ual orientation or gender identity, geographic location, and the role of government
on healthcare which varies from one country to another is a significant factor to the health of
individuals or citi.ens. To better understand motives behind health determinant, this paper will
focus on several areas of concern such as hereditary, se-, age, environmental factors, indoor and
outdoor air pollution, water, sanitation, hygiene, malnutrition, unsafe se-, illiteracy, gender
identity, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. #olutions will also be discussed.
&ealth determinants cannot be discussed without having a thorough understanding of the
meaning, /healthy0. According to #1olni1, /health is a state of complete physical, mental and
social well2being and not merely absence of disease or infirmity0 3#1olni1, 45647. Even if an
individual is born healthy or trained in a proper healthy way and gets involves in a good healthy
behavior there is still a tendency of being sic1. &ealth beliefs can be attributed to an individual8s
ideals, convictions, and attitudes about health and illness, this could be based on realistic
information or misinformation.
#ummary
6
Despite the effort made by (orld &ealth $rgani.ation 3(&$7 and other related (orld
organi.ations to eradicate diseases completely but disease are still rampart in most part of the
world especially the low and middle countries. This could be attributed to many factors that vary
from one country to another. The first group of factors that helps to determine health as related to
the individual and inherited features of individuals which includes genetic ma1eup, se- and age.
$ur genetic ma1eup has much to do with diseases. $ne can also inherit the genetic component of
disease that has multiple causes, such as breast cancer. #e- also has an important relationship
with health. en and women are physically different and may get different diseases, women face
the ris1 of childbearing, they can also get cervical and uterine cancers that men do not get.
(omen also have higher rates of certain health conditions, such as thyroid and breast cancers.
Age is also an important determinant of health, age affect a person8s vulnerability to certain
illnesses, for instance premature baby are more prone to infectious diseases and as a person ages
the ris1 of disease increases. The environment both indoor and outdoor are powerful
determinants of health, in so many countries especially underdeveloped and developing countries
most people coo1 inside the house with poor ventilation and the smo1e can contribute to illness
li1e asthma etc. alnutrition is prevalent in most of the low and middle income countries.
alnutrition causes the body to have wea1 resistant to some diseases as a result of improper
feeding habits. Even in the developed countries, most people that can afford the food are
watching their weight, refused eating right diets instead of e-ercising their body. !n rural areas
some illness and diseases are caused by lac1 of clean drin1able water such disease li1e diarrhea,
while lac1 of sanitation and hygiene can lead to other diseases and sic1ness.
4
Education has a lot to do with these entire factors. According to a statement issued at a
program head in 4569 by (&$ stated that /The social determinants of health are the conditions
in which people are born, grow, live, wor1 and age. These circumstances are shaped by the
distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels.0 !n order to solve
this problem both individual, healthcare providers and the government have to wor1 hand in
hand to solve and promote health.
$ne of the factors that determine health is an inherited gene from our parents, no matter
what these groups of people do to stay healthy will do them no good, because it is inborn.
According to #1olni1, /our genetic ma1eup has much to do with what disease we get and how
healthy we live e-amples are &untington disease, neurological disorder and breast cancer etc.0
#1olni1,3 45647. !n order for these types of people to stay healthy they should go for chec1up
regularly, so that the disease will be detected on time, which can saved life, and less money will
be spent. (hen the disease is already identified and treated there should be fre:uent observation
which will determine the effectiveness of the treatment and improved the life of the patent.
The se- of an individual determine how healthy the person will be, males and females are
physically different and may get dissimilar disease. (omen e-perience the ris1 of motherhood.
They also can get cervical and uterine cancer which men do not get and also most people always
say women are more vulnerable to some liver diseases than are men. /A woman;s liver brea1s
down to-ins more slowly than a man;s liver does, which results in higher e-posure to the to-ins.
#uch to-ins might include environmental to-ins0 #mith 345657. (hile others say that men are
prone to hearth disease than women according to c<lure 345657, said /%ramingham &eart
9
#tudy, a pro=ect of the "ational &eart 'ung and >lood !nstitute and >oston *niversity, shows
that men have a greater ris1 for heart disease at all ages compared to women. The ris1 for both
se-es increases with age. %or e-ample, the ris1 that an average man aged ?5 to ?@ will
e-perience coronary disease in the ne-t 65 years is 46 percent, compared to 64 percent for an
average woman. At younger ages, the difference is more pronounced: between the ages of @5 to
@@, men are more than three times more li1ely than women to suffer serious coronary heart
disease within the ne-t 65 years0. The solution to this problem is that women should go for their
regular chec1up and men should stay out of stress.
Age affects an individual8s susceptibility to certain infections for e-ample premature
babies and old adult are more li1ely to be prone to diseases /as a person age, the ris1 of the
disease and many types of cancers increases. And age ris1 factors are often closely associated
with other ris1 factors0 #o various speciali.e organi.ations and federal agencies should
developed health screening program and immuni.ations including counseling for the elderly.
(here we live and the condition of that environment determine our state of health, the
physical atmosphere in our home or wor1 can increase our probability of certain sic1nesses for
e-ample people who live close to to-ic waste disposals or industrial wor1ers that are e-posed to
certain chemicals are easily to contact longs cancer, and also in so many /developing, women
coo1 indoor with very poor ventilation, thereby creating an indoor environment that is full of
smo1e and that encourage respiratory illness and asthma0 #1olni1 365647. &e further stated that
/about A.@ percent of the total burden of disease in low2 and middle B income countries is the
result of three environmental conditions: unsafe water, hygiene and e-creta disposal, urban air
@
pollution and indoor smo1e from household use of solid fuels, 4C to 99 percent of global burden
of disease can be attributed to environmental ris1 factor0. There are numerous pollution in the
air 1nown as the outdoor pollution which can cause infections li1e respiratory symptoms, cough,
shortness of breath and irritation of the nose according to #1olni1 345647, stated that / older and
younger people are generally most susceptible to the health effects of outdoor air pollution.0
(aterborne disease is one of the most important factor that lead to burden of diseases especially
in low and middle income countries / more than 6 billion people, mostly in low and middle
income countries, lac1 access to safe water sources within a reasonable distance of their home0
#1olni1 345647. #o many countries has no modern sanitation system or sanitary disposal of waste
products which responsible for diarrheal, trachoma intestinal parasite. !nability to dispose
appropriately of human waste contaminate food and water sources and can cause transmission of
pathogen through oral2 fecal route, spread of parasitic 3worm hoo1worm Ascaris7 The solutions
to Environmental, indoor, outdoor, water, sanitation and hygiene is to promote and improve in
the area of sanitation, educate the masses on how to clean the environment, the government
should provide clean water and declared one day free from business for environmental sanitation
and people in the rural area should try to use improved stoves or coo1 outside the building. Also
washing of hands is very important.
alnutrition is a ma=or problem in the rural area, especially women and children and it
has a great effect on the life of individuals. The feeding habits of those that are affected is Door
nutritional status in general is associated with increased prevalence of anemia, pregnancy and
delivery problems, and increased rates of intrauterine growth retardation, low birth weight and
perinatal mortality !n adults, undernourishment and anemia, can lead to poor health, can impair
C
productivity because of reduced physical and intellectual performance and can constrain
community and national development., primarily women of child2bearing age and young
children, are affected by the lac1 of iron. #olution is to educate the masses on the effective way
of feeding for the nourishment of the body, this can be done through postal and flyers in rural
areas including all levels of education2 primary, secondary and tertiary institutions of education.
The government need to supply other needed food li1e mil1, soya beans or vitamin A product,
The government should also dialog with food processing industries for the needed food for the
masses for e-ample noodles can be processed with some element of protein and vitamin on it.
Derry, 345647
Another factor that can determine the health of individuals is unsafe se- which can lead
to &!)+A!D ris1 among women of color, prenatal care, and the continuing need for public and
private sectors to develop alternate preventive strategies. #e-ual e:uality in media programming
is needed edina,3 45667 "ew cases of &!)+A!D# among women of color highlight the
continuing need for the public and private sectors to develop these necessary preventive
strategies. !n addressing this issue, the public health care approach needs to reach out to
communities of color that have the highest &!) ris1s nationally.
!n addition, The "ational Association of #ocial (or1ers and health promotion advocates
need to collaborate in urging ma=or television networ1s and producers to offer &!)2ris1
reduction strategies as part of their se-ual scripts. The use of media is a dominant field to
facilitate social change for vulnerable populations such as this, and edina suggests that using
television se- scripts to promote &!) ris12reduction through association with television
storyline. #e- scripts will emphasi.e self2power in women of color to reduce &!) ris1. edina
?
recommends that "A#( and <D< collaborate with health care advocates, to use media8s
influence to obtain coverage for &!)+A!D# and integrate &!) prevention messages into their
se-ual content as a norm of se-ual e-pression edina, 345667
!lliteracy has a lot to contribute to the health of humans. >elieve about health are guided with the
1nowledge the person has ac:uired about body functions and illnesses. /The variable influence
of how a person thin1s about health or the ability to shape the way a person are involved in
health practice and understand factors involved in illness.0 Derry 345647 #olutions to this
problem is to educate the masses about health behaviors which will involve the <are giver and
the government agency.
Eender identity is also one of the factors to determine the health of individual especially
the area of physician bias as it pertains to race and gender. There has been research on provider
perceptions when it applies to physician bias, false perceptions and pre=udices surrounding
medical decisions made by doctors that dictate the lower number of minority participants in
clinical trials. $ther research shows that doctors are less li1ely to prescribe certain treatments to
their minority patients, due to prior physician e-periences treating persons of similar race,
gender, age and socioeconomic status as themselves. Dhysician biases do affect actual treatment
decisions, although they claim that this does not mean there is a lesser :uality of care for
minority patients. "onetheless a landmar1 studies by #chulman ET. Al. identified the effect of
race and gender on patient referral for cardiac catheteri.ation. %indings showed that African
American women were least li1ely to be referred for this important procedure. <ollective action
to end health disparities is the "ational Dartnership for Action to End &ealth Disparities 3"DA7
and the $ffice of inority &ealth, *.#. Department of &ealth and &uman #ervices 3&&#7
F
brought together thousands of sta1eholders to develop the "DA. )alues are based on community
involvement and emphasi.e on being culturally and linguistically competent to serve all
communities. They also support the congressional language that encouraged the development of
a "ational #trategy to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in &ealth and &ealth <are to be
implemented and monitored as a combined effort by #tate and local governments, communities,
and the private sector, >eadle, 345667. Dartnerships of "DA include tribes and tribal
organi.ations, health care providers and systems, health plans, businesses, academic and research
institutions, foundations, state and local governmental agencies, etc. The councils meet and
address health disparity improvement actions for their geographic areas. This is collective action
which is a collaborative approach to problem solving. >eadle, 345667
!n the area of health information technology, electronic health record incentive program
3commonly 1nown as eaningful *se or *7 reduces health disparities via data collection by
identifying disparities. Disparities are language, literacy, and communication. (ith this
information, healthcare providers can plan and coordinate patient care, 'everaging, 345697, Data
collections recommended by the <onsumer Dartnership for e2&ealth is as follows:
6. Race, ethnicity, language by using &&# standards rather than $> standards,
and moving toward the eventual approach recommended by the !nstitute of edicine.
4. E&Rs should enable and incentivi.e new types of data collection li1e se-ual
orientation, gender identity, occupation and industry codes, and physical+behavioral+cognitive
disability.
9. Datient preferences with regard to sharing their health information for research
purposes.
A
@. Datient8s e-perience data should be collected in patient8s preferred language or
alternative formats that accommodate disabilities.
C. <are summaries and plans should re:uire caregiver status and roles using DE<A%
standards.
?. &Rs should combine data collection and real time integration from home
monitoring devices, which includes smart phones and apps, 'everaging, 345697.

<onclusion
any unions of the global world have come together to lift the :uality of health care
worldwide, and to reduce disparities in healthcare for patients of different races, genders and
ethnicities. The healthcare providers are actively developing and supporting the populations that
have been historically marginali.ed and are in the shadows of mainstream society. There is need
for more training opportunities for those that serve minority populations. !t will ensures a wide
range of cultural and linguistic, and appropriate healthcare, wor1s to eliminate e-isting access
barriers to affordable health insurance coverage, and designs effective policies to enhance :uality
care for women, children and families.

>ibliography
>eadle, . 34566, DE< 6A7. collective Action to end health disparities. Retrieved April 6A, 456@,
from http:++www.ebscohost.
>eadle, . E. 34566, April 6A7. Collective Action to End Health Disparities. Retrieved from
American Gournal.
H
%isher, G. I. 34566, Dec7. Challenging Assumptions about Minority Participation in U.S.
Clinical Research. Retrieved April 6F, 456@, from www.ebscohost.com.
'everaging. 34569, A*E 6F7. Meaningul use to Reduce Health Disparities!Consumer
partnership or eHealth. Retrieved 6F April, from www.nationalpartnership.org.
c<ure, T. #. 345657. "hy men are prone to heart disease. Retrieved from livestrong.com:
http:++www.livestrong.com
edina, <. 34566, may7. An Alternate H#$ preventive strategy%se& scripts in media or "omen o
color. social "or' in public health. Retrieved April 6F, 456@, from www.ebscohost.com.
Dotter , p. A., perry, A. E., stoc1ert, p. A., & &all, A. m. 345647. undamentals o nursing. #t.
louis: Elsevier osby.
#1olni1, R. 345647. (lobal health )*). >urlington: =ones and bartlett learning.
#mith, A. 345657. +omen are more vornerable to disease . Retrieved from www.sharecare.com.
65