What are "Social Determinants of Health?"
It's long been recognized that most of us are exposed to similar things that threaten our health. But some of us get sick and others don't, why? Current thinking is that social factors create a level of disease-resistance, and people whose resistance is lower will get more of these common diseases. Now backup and look at a full community or population -- at this level there's a group of "social determinants" that have been well-proven to pave the road to a bunch of health problems.
The WHO Framework
The World Health Organization (WHO) has organized social determinants of health into ten major categories. As part of their effort to improve health worldwide, they're trying to get governments to look at these social determinants, and create changes at this level to boost everyone's health. They've got a short document that lays out why these ten are really important. Read it here, "Social Determinants of Health: The Solid Facts."
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Social gradient -- This means the more money you have the healthier you are. It's called a 'gradient' cause this holds true well past the point where you can afford your healthcare.
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Stress -- Short-term stress can be good, but long-term stress starts to mess you up physically.
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Early life -- Things that happen in early life have a magnified effect over our lifespan, cause they're very vulnerable years when we're building up key resistance and behavior patterns.
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Social exclusion -- This is a whopper, it includes social exclusion, poverty and discrimination. It's pretty obbvious how this stuff messes with your health.
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Work -- Work is a key area where we can feel challenged and rewarded, or possibly trapped and bored. Long term research has shown people with less control at their job have worse health.
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Unemployment -- But of course, not having a job is even worse! It causes stress, poverty, and often means you lose health insurance.
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Social support -- Face it, we're social beasts, and having some kind of a pack to help us through the rough spots helps protect us from health problems. It's best when people are getting support from a variey of different life areas (like family+neighbors+work+friends).
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Addiction -- Addictions are attractive cause they seem to help people cope with other stressors, but it's a false promise. Biggest ones here are 1. tobacco (by far!), 2. alcohol, 3. others.
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Food -- Sometimes folk can't get enough. Increasingly it's the food choices and eating patterns that affect health for more folks in our country. Think of the movie Supersize Me.
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Transportation -- Building a worldwide car culture is messing us up healthwise, not only does it create pollution that leads to problems like asthma, but on a personal level it's a major factor in folk not getting enough exercise.