Application: Personal Perspective – Disparities and Determinants of Health

Health disparities and the social determinants of health can be influenced by many factors, some obvious and some you may never have considered until now. What does health equity mean to you? What can be done to improve the health of vulnerable populations in your community, nationally, and even globally?

To prepare for this Application Assignment, review your Learning Resources and the Discussion posts from your classmates this week. Think about your community, and particularly the vulnerable populations and their health risks, as you answer the questions in this week’s application. Find at least two additional resources to add information to your application. One resource should be from a recent (last 5 years) peer-reviewed journal (from the Walden University Library). For suggestions to help with your search, visit the Library http://library.waldenu.edu/908.htm. The other additional resource should be from an online source with “.edu”, “.org”, or “.gov” in the web address to ensure you are accessing a reliable resource.

To complete this Application Assignment, write a 2- to 3-page paper that discusses how health equity and the social determinants of health, as described in this week’s Learning Resources, relate to a racial, ethnic, or geographic group of your choice. In your paper, answer the following questions:

Instruction:

Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources and additional scholarly sources, as required. Refer to the Essential Guide to APA Style for Walden Students to ensure that your in-text citations and reference list are correct.

Learning Resources

Required Resources

Readings

• Course Text: Public and Global Health Essentials
• • Chapter 3, “Evidence-Based Public Health”What is the etiology and burden of disease in a population? Has it changed over time? Data from public health sources provides essential information for those professionals as they work to understand the problem and strive to improve the health of people around the world.
• Article: Brennan Ramirez, L. K., Baker, E. A., & Metzler, M. (2008). Promoting health equity: A resource to help communities address social determinants of health. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/healthycommunitiesprogram/tools/pdf/SDOH-workbook.pdf
• • Introduction (p. 4)
  • Chapter 1, “Achieving Health Equity” (pp. 6–11)

    The link between social determinants of health, including food supplies, housing, economics, relationships, and the overall environment to public health outcomes is widely recognized. This workbook from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides an explanation, examples, and a plan for reducing health inequities in a community. This week, you will read Chapter 1 to better understand health equity, health disparities, and the social determinants of health. You will be reading other chapters later in this course.

• Article: World Health Organization. (2008). Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Retrieved from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2008/WHO_IER_CSDH_08.1_eng.pdf World Health Organization (2008). Closing the Gap in a Generation Health Equity Through Action on the Social Determinants of Health. Copyright (C) World Health Organization. Used by permission.

  Health equity and social justice affect the way people live, their chance of illness, and their risk of premature death. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health and illness follow a social gradient: the lower the socioeconomic position, the worse the health of those individuals. The WHO report, Closing the gap in a generation, provides recommendations to reduce disparities and improve health equity through global action on the social determinants of health. This Executive Summary, from the Commission on Social Determinants of Health, will help you gain an appreciation of the health challenges facing citizens around the globe.

• Article: Friel, S., Chopra, M., & Satcher, D. (2007). Unequal weight: Equity oriented policy responses to the global obesity epidemic. BMJ, 335(7632), 1241–1243. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2137064/

  A growing global problem of obesity is unequally distributed between and within countries. This article, from the British Medical Journal, through the example of obesity, demonstrates the critical health equity concepts covered in class this week. Use the permalink in the Syllabus and the online classroom.

• Slides: CDC. (2009). State-specific Prevalence of Obesity Among U.S. Adults by Race/Ethnicity, 2006-2008..Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30333, USA. Used by permission.

  In recent years, the obesity rates have seen a dramatic increase across the U.S. The CDC, using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), shows recent trends in obesity in non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, and Hispanics in the U.S.