Question
Research the social determinants of health and the barriers to the distribution of healthcare in a society of your choice. Discuss any inequitable distribution of healthcare and the political nature of evidence-based policy decision-making that you discover. Explain how the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia could benefit from this information.
Answer
Social Determinants of Health
World Health Organization defines good health as a condition of mental, physical and social well-being. Health is determined by various factors which have direct or indirect impacts. Human values are social determinants of health because an individual attitude has psychological aspects which affect the physical health of an individual. The World Health Organization has also identified stress as a determinant of health. People who are exposed to stress circumstances are at very high risk of being infected by health complications such as blood pressure (Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014). Employment determines health as well in that, people who are employed can cater for their family needs which include ensuring that their family members take health diets and they are also able to provide for healthcare expenses which is the opposite for unemployed people. Healthcare professionals encounter a lot of challenges which makes it hard for them to be able to deliver health care services to indigenous community living in Australia. This happens because this community lives in more remote areas which have poor infrastructure and thus transport is a challenge. Indigenous community only understands their first language which most healthcare professionals do not understand therefore making it hard for them to be able to deliver high-quality healthcare services. The governments and other key stakeholders in the healthcare sector should formulate policies which benefit every person (Marmot & Allen, 2014). They should also ensure that there is an establishment of more healthcare institution in remote areas so that indigenous communities can easily access healthcare services. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia should benefit from this information by ensuring that people in the country can easily access healthcare services anywhere by constructing more healthcare facilities in the sector and employing enough healthcare professionals to deliver services to patients.
References
Braveman, P., & Gottlieb, L. (2014). The social determinants of health: it's time to consider the causes of the causes. Public health reports, 129(1_suppl2), 19-31.
Marmot, M., & Allen, J. J. (2014).
