Global Health Disparities Analysis

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Web of Causation: Global Health Disparities The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define health disparities as “preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). These disparities affect people and communities worldwide, both positively and negatively. A web of causation is used to illustrate how these factors contribute to one another and to health disparities worldwide. Description of Web Health Issues Major health issues that contribute to global health disparities cross borders and communities, affecting every individual. These issues include communicable …show more content…

There are many relationships within these social determinates of health, most being reciprocal. The culture in a certain community or population determine if someone will have the choice or access to a quality education, which in turn determines one’s socioeconomic status, income, and institutional inequities. Specifically, if a person grows up in a family where education is seen as a priority then they have an increased probability of obtaining a job, therefore positively affecting their income and status. This could also work in a negative path as well depending on someone’s culture. Social determinates of health also have positive and negative relationships with environmental factors and individual determinates of health. Culture is dependent on geographical location. There are many cultures around the world, that vary from country to country, and even state to state. Culture also has a relationship with behavior choices, which can be seen as positive and negative. An example of this would be female genital mutilation. This negative health risk and decision is embedded within the culture of many different countries around the …show more content…

Access to health care impacts behavior choices. If an individual has to travel a long distance to receive medical care they could be less likely to seek said care. Geographic location can be linked to many health issues, such as pollution and diseases. If an area has a warm and wet climate, they probably have more mosquitos leading to a high prevalence in malaria cases. Individual Determinants Individual determinants are those that are personally or biologically acquired. They include gender, race/ethnicity, relationships, age, sexual orientation, and behavior choices. As seen before, many of these factors can be intertwined with one another. One’s behavior choices are often correlated with their gender, relationships, and age. Health issues, environmental factors, and social determinates have a causal relationship with individual determinates. For instance, age depends on what type of education that person may seek and

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