Health And Population Health: The Social Determinants Of Health

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Since the introduction of the Ottawa Charter in 1986, health promotion across the world has taken a more preventative, or “upstream”, approach. This was done through the enlightenment of the socioenvronmental approach that focused less on lifestyle choices and immediate medical intervention, but instead the factors that directly and indirectly influenced health (Cohen, 2012). In this revolutionary charter, the socioenvironmental approach introduced key predictors to population health, which are now known as the social determinants of health (Cohen, 2012). These determinants range from income to race and gender, and encompass all of the effects that these factors have on individual and population health. Mikkonen and Raphael perfectly summarize …show more content…

In many reserves, especially northern Canada, the highest tier of medical care is not actually a hospital, but simply a nurse’s station. These nurses’ stations do provide very high level and reliable care; however, no matter how exceptional the staff may be at the nurses’ station, there will still be health concerns that require more advanced treatment. The advanced treatment for some is often difficult to acquire due to the next available hospital being hundreds of kilometers away. However, many Aboriginals often lack the awareness, or health literacy, that they even need treatment in the first place due to differing views on health and healing (Treloar et al., 2013). It is important in my future nursing practice that I provide health education to increase the health literacy of everyone, not just Aboriginal …show more content…

Contextually, Aboriginals have been failed by their government through flawed policy and health program mismanagement (Jull & Giles, 2012). There are often discrepancies in health program policy and coverage depending on the “status” of the individual and differing responses of provinces and territories to the policies; resulting in many Aboriginals not being covered for a variety of medical treatments that other populations would be covered for (Jull & Giles, 2012). To illustrate, Jordan River Anderson, a young Aboriginal boy who had been hospitalized for two years, had been waiting to return to return home, while the provincial and federal government disputed who would cover the cost of homecare (Jull & Giles, 2012). Unfortunately, the slow response of the governments resulted in Jordan passing away before he could return home (Jull & Giles, 2012). The location of many reserves where the majority of populations live can also become a factor when it comes to accessing health care. This is a result of many reserves being located long distances from more advanced health care facilities in urbanized areas (Snyder & Wilson, 2012). Not only is the commute hard financially and mentally for the remote Aboriginal population, but the actual facilities themselves pose many barriers to their

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