Factors Related to Human Health

Social, Political and Economic Determinants

There is growing recognition that there are many social determinants of health. To fully understand the impact on health we must recognize a persons character and environment. The WHO categorizes these determinates as Structural and  Intermediary. Structural determinants refers to socioeconomic and political context such as governance, polices and values which lead to an unequal distribution of material and monetary resources, changing their socioeconomic position. Intermediary determinants are material circumstances such as work and home environment, as well as psychological and behavioral factors. Social cohesion and social capital bridge the gap between structural and intermediary determinants. They describe the willingness of people in a community to cooperate for the greater good.

Around 1830, a french physician named Louis Villerme correlated morality by the district in Paris. The result showed a correlation between death and the rate of poverty in the district. The Whitehall study was a prospective cohort study which studied mortality in British civil servants in 1967. The result showed at each occupational grade, health status was higher and mortality was lower. This is apparent in most industrialized countries, but the inverse was true in developing countries. In Nigeria, for example, obesity is found more commonly in the upper classes.

Ultimately, it is only through collective action we can bring problems to light and determine a solution through social policy. In 1842 Sir Edwin Chadwick published a paper called "Report into Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population of Great Britain" which concluded life expectancy was higher in the countryside than in towns. He argued the solution was not more doctors, but civil engineers to improve sanitary conditions in the city. These were eventually brought to parliament and legislation was passed to reform public health in the UK.

• Nuisances Removal Act (1846) - Gave local justices the power to prosecute landlords for infractions having to do with sanitation.
• Public Health Act (1848) - Created a general board of health that could create local boards and deal with environmental filth.
• The Epidemiological society of London was formed in 1850 to present papers related to public health
• John Snow wrote a paper in 1853 that sparked further reform.

Politics dictate who are provided with services and how the budget is spent. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which categorized governments; Social democratic, christian democratic, liberal, and authoritarian conservative/dictatorship. The authors concluded that redistribute polices are positive associated with health outcomes.