Social determinants of health

Common card · No. 365000

Social determinants of health are the factors, oftentimes related to environment or status, that affect the conditions of daily life and one's health. They are the factors that determine a person's vulnerability for disease, but also their ability to gain access to care. They are commonly broken down into six categories: economic stability, education, social and community context, race and gender, health care access, and built environment. There is debate about which of these is most important. The World Health Organization (WHO) explains that health is influenced by the "circumstances in which people are born, grow up, live, work and age, and the systems put in place to deal with illness." WHO further states that "unequal distribution of health-damaging experiences is not in any sense a 'natural' phenomenon but is the result of a toxic combination of poor social policies, unfair economic arrangements [where the already well-off and healthy become even richer and the poor who are already...

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