313394 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Environmental Health, Birth Weight, World Health Organization
WEEK 3: Global Indigenous Experiences
Determinants of health:
In order to gain an understanding of the factors associated with the ‘gap’ in health between Indigenous
and non-indigenous populations it is necessary to identify and critically analyse the complex interaction
of the determinants of health.
The determinants of health include:
1. Biological determinants (genetics, sex, age, body weight, blood pressure, glucose levels,
cholesterol levels; birth weight).
2. Health behaviours as a determinant (e.g. Alcohol, tobacco and/or other drug use, diet, lifestyle,
unprotected sex)
3. Environmental determinants of health, based on the definition of environmental health, include:
‘… all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the related factors
impacting behaviours … targeted towards preventing disease and creating health-supportive
environments (including clean air and water, healthy workplaces, safe houses, community spaces
and roads and managing climate change’ (WHO, 2016, p.4).
Environmental and social determinants of health are closely linked.
4. Social determinants:
“social determinants are functions of the circumstances in which people live, work and grow;
largely shaped by the distribution of resources and power, these determinants are closely linked
to and mediate exposure to environmental risk factors such as working conditions, housing, water
and sanitation or healthy lifestyles”
Less social and emotional support = less wellbeing.
Figure 1: A conceptual framework for determinants of health. AIHW, 2010, p.65
This framework for the determinants displays a web of the causes, part of broad causal pathways or
chains, moving from left to right that impact health.
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Document Summary
In order to gain an understanding of the factors associated with the gap" in health between indigenous and non-indigenous populations it is necessary to identify and critically analyse the complex interaction of the determinants of health. Environmental and social determinants of health are closely linked: social determinants: Less social and emotional support = less wellbeing. Figure 1: a conceptual framework for determinants of health. This framework for the determinants displays a web of the causes, part of broad causal pathways or chains, moving from left to right that impact health. The determinants of health (figure 2 above) are also discussed by dahlgren and whitehead (1991). This model still stands as the most effective illustration of health determinants and continues to inform the work of those concerned with understanding and reducing the health inequality gap. Like the conceptual model above this model highlights a relationship between individual lifestyle.
