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rural healthcare essays
essay on healthcare in rural communities
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World Health Organization defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO n.d). Health status can be measured in a variety of ways. For instance well-being is measured based on self-rated health and self-esteem, health conditions are assessed based on BMI, arthritis, diabetes, CVD, cancer, etc. Human functioning is measured based on disability free life years, activity limitation and finally health status also can be measured by death rates such as infant mortality, life expectancy and mortality from various causes (CIHI, 2010). These measures are helpful to distinguish the health status between different groups and gives direction towards investigating the cause of difference. In a report of Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI, 2006) it is indicated that health status of rural dwellers residing in strong, weak and no MIZ zones is poorer compared with their urban counterparts. The given information is summarized in table 1 (Appendix A). According to this report rural populations have poorer health outcomes in all selected health status measures except one. The only indicator with better outcome in rural settings is incidence of cause-specific cancer. Nevertheless these health outcomes don’t give an explanation of why poorer health status is more observed in rural places. There are abundant studies with sufficient and consistent results implying that health determinants such as income, education, environment and working conditions, social networks, personal health practices and health services lay basis for variety of health conditions including those mentioned in the table 1. In the light of the information on health determinants ... ... middle of paper ... ...im/a05?lang=eng&id=1050491 Stead LF, Lancaster T. Interventions to reduce harm from continued tobacco use. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD005231. Stead LF, Perera R, Bullen C, Mant D, Lancaster T. Nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD000146. Tanuseputro P, Manuel DG, Leung M, Ngueyen K, Johansen H. (2003). Risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in Canada. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 19(11): 1249-1260. Vafaei A, Rosenberg MW, Picket W. (2010). Relationships between income inequality and health: a study on rural and urban regions of Canada. Rural and Remote Health (Online), 10(2): 1430. Available: http://www.rrh.org.au World Health Organization. Definition of health. Available from: https://apps.who.int/aboutwho/en/definition.html
Social determinants of health have attracted the attention of governments, policy makers and international health organisations over the last three decades (Hankivsky & Christoffersen 2008). This is because social conditions which people are born in, live and work play an important role in their health outcomes (WHO 2015). According to Kibesh (1200) social determinants drive health disparities, disrupts the human developmental process and undermine the quality of life and opportunities for people and families (ref). Thus, several theories have been developed over the years to provide in-depth understanding of the social determinants of health and to reduce health inequalities (Hankivsky & Christoffersen, 2008). However, there is still significant
Adler, N. E., & Ostrove, J. M. (1999). Socioeconomic status and health: what we know and what we don't. Annals of the New York academy of Sciences, 896(1), 3-15.
People living in areas such as Playford, has shown to have a lower socioeconomic position, which made them at highest risk of poor health (WHO, 2017). Then, the social determinants of health support the understanding the difference between populations health levels, but also the reasons behind why some groups are healthier than others (Marmot, 2005) and the issue becomes a little bit deeper as people living in different areas related to others differently, so then the social stratification of health is affected by differences in gender, marital status, residential areas and ethnicity (Elstad,
For patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with a history of smoking cigarettes (P) can the use of nicotine replacement therapy (I) compared to only using nicotine replacement therapy (C) increase the patient's ability to permanently stop smoking (T) and slow down the progression of the effects of the disease?( O)
Gavin Turrell, B. F. (1999). Socioeconomic Determinants of Health:Towards a National Research Program and a Policy and Intervention Agenda. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.
Australia is a vast land with a diverse environment and communities isolated by great distances. Its peoples have a diversity of culture, educational and economic circumstances, health needs, services, and social structure. Therefore the welfare issues experienced and the impact these have to lifestyle within Australia’s different populations would also differ in relation to these factors. This is certainly true for Rural Australia.
Location is often overlooked when analyzing the public’s health, despite the fact that it plays a major role in a community’s well-being. Differences in mortality, morbidity, and life expectancy vary dramatically both within and between countries. Zip codes may be more important than genetic codes; school files may be more telling than medical files; time spent at work may be more relevant than time spent at the doct...
Wilkinson, R.G. & Marmot, M.G. 2003, Social determinants of health: the solid facts, World Health Organization.
Kansas is considered a rural state in the United States. Merriam-Webster (2012) defines rural theoretically as “open land” or “relating to the country, country people or life, or agriculture”. The U.S. Census Bureau considers rural to be “open country and settlements with fewer than 2,500 residents” (Cromartie, 2007). Nearly 17% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, which is about 80% of all U.S. territory (Cromartie, 2009). What this means that there is more land mass compared to the people inhabiting the land; rural communities have fewer people living in larger, more remote areas. Individuals living in rural communities have different cultures and experiences than those living in urban communities, which can become problematic in regards to healthcare.
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2010). The chief public health officer’s report on the state of public health in Canada 2010: Chapter 3: The health and well-being of
A social determinant of health contains the important key factors that decide whether the individual or society will have healthy or unhealthy lifestyle. Social determinant of health is basically the socio-economic condition of all individuals, communities and jurisdiction to shape their health. It also gives an opportunity to an individual in whom they have got physical, societal and personal assets to find and attain their personal goals, meet their requirements and learn to survive in the environment. A community provides quantitative and qualitative ranges of resources to their population according to their needs are also a part of social determinants of health. These resources contain early childhood development, education system, food,
Wilkinson, R. M. (2003). Social determinants of health - the solid facts. [S.l.]: World Health Organization.
Living in a remote area has always been thought to have negative influences on the individual. There are 35 % of the total population in Australia living in rural area(Phillips, 2009).Rural areas in Australia and all over the world are not geographically isolated and disadvantaged only but also culturally and economically deprived which has great consequences on the health status of the population. The main two factors that have a major effect on rural health are socioeconomic status and cultural issues(Beard, Tomaska, Earnest, Summerhayes, & Morgan, 2009).
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are increasingly becoming a major problem of Public Health around the World. The impact of resources and material deprivation among people and populations has resulted in an increase in mortality rate on a planetary scale. Social determinants of health are defined as the personal, social, economic and the environmental conditions which determines the health status of an individual or population (Gardner, 2013). Today’s society is characterized by inequalities in health, education, income and many other factors which as a result is becoming a burden for Public Health around the world. Research studies have shown that the conditions in which people live and work strongly influenced their health. Individuals with high levels of education and fall within the high income bracket turn to have stable jobs, live in the best neighborhood and have access to quality health care system than individuals who have low education and fall with the low income bracket. This paper is to explain different social determinants of health and how they play ...
Dew and Matheson (2008) state that the disciplines of epidemiology and social epidemiology have progressively given more descriptions of health inequalities. They also state that epidemiology mainly focuses on how and from where infectious diseases spread, whereas social epidemiology looks at the patterning of health outcomes involved with social characteristics such as gender, ethnicity and income in order to find the causes of differences between these groups. Key determinants of maternity care in rural areas are education, income, a sense of control over life circumstances and access to health care services (Ministry of Health [MoH], 2000).