Social justice in global health

Blog: Place Within Populations

Blog -- Place Within Populations

How individual and community social behaviors and responses to the physical environment alter, disrupt, impair and/or damage the ability of human physiology to fight infectious diseases. The following concepts will be explored: drug resistant microorganisms, herd immunity, and re-emergence of vaccine preventable diseases, genetic susceptibility of some populations.

The idea that individual and social responses to the environment can impact human health, particularly with regard to the ability to fight off infectious disease is not new. As far back as the 1800s when John Snow connected an epidemic of cholera to sewage in the Broad Street pump, epidemiologists (as they are now known) have been making connections between behavior, environment, and disease. Some variables influence public health through policy rather than through medical practice. The public health system has labeled phenomena such as these social determinants of health (SDH). The World Health Organization (WHO) has even established the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health to address these important issues. WHO defines SDH as "the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age" and "the fundamental drivers of these conditions" Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014). The social determinants category is broad and includes attributes of environments that contribute to or detract from healthy lifestyles. The research literature clearly shows that these social determinants cannot be separated from socio-economic forces (Gore & Kothari, 2013). Social environments are manifestations of the actions of people and social groups. This dynamic is highly influential in enabling pathways to infectious disease, shaping lifestyle choices and opportunities, and even bringing about biological responses to extant environmental conditions.

Braveman, P. & Laura Gottlieb, L. (2014 Supplement 2). 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, 129, 19-29.

Gore, D.M. & Kothari, A.R. (2013). Getting to the root of the problem: health promotion strategies to address the social determinants of health. Canada Journal of Public Health, 104(1), e52-e54.

2. How the practice decisions of health care providers, health educators, health organizations, policy nation and globally. Consider the leadership and management roles of nurses in recognizing the global health implications of patient education, screening and care delivery management.