Social Determinants of Health

We live in a much healthier world today. In the 20th century alone, life expectancy increased by 30 years as a result of major discoveries and improvements in public health, such as vaccination, injury prevention, access to clean water and safe food, and advances in maternal and child health. The 21st century should work toward improving health further and making it equitable. Country life expectancies range from 82 in Japan to 34 years in Sierra Leone—an almost 50-year gap that no biological or genetic reason can explain. In the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, life expectancy ranges from 81 in Singapore to 56 in Myanmar. The Philippines is somewhere in the middle, 71 for both sexes. Inequities in health can also be noted within countries. For example, there is a 30-year gap in life expectancy between the most and least advantaged populations even in the rich city of Glasgow, Scotland. In the Philippines, inequities among regions and income groups are glaring, spanning all known health indicators. For example, the most recent National Demographic and Health Survey showed that even if the national infant mortality rate was halved from 1990 to 2008, the rate in rural areas (35 per 1,000 infants) remained almost double that in urban areas (20 per 1,000). See the entire article in http://opinion.inquirer.net/25539/social-determinants-of-health (A final year medical student at the University of the Philippines Manila, Ramon Lorenzo Luis R. Guinto is the regional coordinator for the Asia Pacific of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations [IFMSA], a global network of 1.2 million medical students. He led the IFMSA delegation to the WHO World Conference on Social Determinants of Health in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Oct. 19-21, 2011.)
Readmore...