Social Determinants of Health #MHST601, #healthdeterminants

The Government of Canada defines the social determinants of health as a “broad range of personal, social, economic and environmental factors which determine individual and population health” (Social determinants of health and health inequalities, 2022). It is important to call out the specifics to certain populations which also contribute to social determinants of health such as racism, discrimination, and historical trauma.

Churchill et al., describe how Canada ties a great deal of money and resources to healthcare compared to other well-established countries but not time or energy into health policy to address or minimize the inequities associated with the social determinants of health. There have been examples of sustained positive change across the country aimed to address some inequities such as safe injections sites and the legalization of recreational cannabis but overall, the efforts continue to fall short. Many Canadians continue to tie personal behaviour and decision making as the highest-ranking contributor to overall individual health. There is a lack of understanding from the general population of the extent to which social determinants of health impact the overall health and well-being of a community. Lobbyists for public policy change continue to advocate for a shift in thinking and the adoption of a framework recognizing the role of “social and structural factors in determining health” (Churchill, et al., 2021). They go on to analyze how the content and type of messaging delivered can impact the level of empathy experienced in a community. This empathy may then elicit a stronger drive and force to analyze and ensure appropriate policy change is made to adequately address social determinants of health and thus resulting in a potential decrease in healthcare inequities.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the disparities associated with social determinants of health. The pandemic negatively affected vulnerable individuals and communities. Despite this negative impact, the strategy for vaccine rollout was focused on age, occupation and living situation (Kholina K, 2022). Many disaster and disaster recovery efforts analyze the harm using the metric of vulnerability. In their paper, Kholina, et al. describe vulnerability as “the potential harm incurred by a person. As it is the result of social, economic, political, and cultural factors in decision-making, vulnerability is constructed socially” (Kholina K, 2022). Overall, the effectiveness of the vaccine rollout strategy in Ontario can be considered a success, it did not initially address important social determinants of health from the outset. There was a notable shift in the delivery of vaccines to “hot spot” areas within Ontario during the second wave targeting communities with large communal living situations based on cultural practices within certain cities. To prevent this from happening a second, third or fourth time, it is important that as a province we work to collect, store, and analyze granular data specific to the populations within our communities. This synthesized data would then serve to support a fast-acting, quick-responding action plan focused on preventing the spread of infectious disease through communities by creating plans aimed at addressing the already named specifics related to social determinants of health. Not only would this information prove useful in any future healthcare crises, it would serve an important function to address healthcare equities attributed to social determinants of health as we move through the next phase of initiatives started to address healthcare service recovery over the next number of years.

Works Cited

Churchill, E., Shankardass, K., Perrella, A., Lofters, A., Quinonez, C., Brooks, L., . . . Kirst, M. (2021). Effectiveness of Narrative Messaging Styles about the Social Determinants of Health and Health Inequities in Ontario, Canada. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 1-13.

Kholina K, H. S. (2022). An equitable vaccine delivery system. PLOS one, 1-18.

Social determinants of health and health inequalities. (2022, 06 14). Retrieved from Government of Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/population-health/what-determines-health.html