Reflection On Getting Sick As A Child

Take a moment to reflect on getting sick as a child. You woke up one morning to discover a painful, swollen throat accompanied by a pounding head that felt like it was “on fire”. When you alert your parents of your unfortunate discovery, what actions are taken from there? Does your mom call the school, informing them of your excused absence? Does she immediately schedule a doctor’s appointment consisting of a diagnosis of “strep throat” and a prescription for antibiotics? When you got home, were you given a hearty bowl of chicken noodle soup and instructed to “rest up”? Now, imagine you were in a different setting. When you tell your parents you’re sick, does your dad tell you to pretend it’s not there and it’ll pass in a few days? Refuse to

Socioeconomic status has one of the largest impacts on health. On the bottom end of the spectrum are individuals and families who have a harder time evading risks of disease. Due to potential lack of money, power and knowledge, they have a higher chance of health risks. Some of the most prevalent causes for bad health are poor nutrition, physical inactivity, drug/alcohol use and cigarette smoking. Individuals who experience poverty are more likely to take desperate measures to make money that could include jobs such as prostitution. In these attempts, they are putting themselves at risk for diseases including STI’s, increasing their chances of developing a drug/alcohol addiction, becoming pregnant with no resources for medical attention, etc. Along with social class, demography can also be a determinant of health. For example, Nepal suffers from a low mortality rate in women. Because of their cultural belief of girls marrying at a young age, many undergo reproductive health issues in pre/post labor complications, hemorrhaging and infection. Because of their poverty and lack of resources, women in Nepal often become victims of birth related fatalities. However, it is not always simply someone’s location that puts him or her at a high risk of health issues. Biologically,

The question now is how to take action and go about this change to increase healthy lifestyles. We have two approaches to help us achieve this goal. The individualist approach explains people’s ability to exercise a good amount of control over their own health (Bandura, 2004). Basically, the individualist approach says each person should be held accountable in maintaining his or her own health. On the other hand, societal approach seeks to help people raise their efficacy in their own beliefs. This includes changing social, political and environmental conditions to avoid current and future health risks. This can be done in a number of ways. The first would be spreading information on how practicing daily healthy habits have a positive result on health. The second takes a different approach and works to provoke fear of disease. The third is informing individuals of their vulnerability and risk to a disease. Basically, just because you are healthy now does not mean you will remain that way without taking necessary precautions. Some people feel an individualist approach is more important than a societal approach and vice versa. However, I feel they are completely correlated and one cannot exist without the other. Societal approaches work to educate and inspire people to make health changes, but these changes will never be made unless