Health Determinants
Did you know that the United States has a higher rate of infant mortality than Japan (CIA, n.d.)? Or, as Dr. Beilenson states in this week’s media presentation, that “your zip code that you live in makes more difference in your health and well-being than the genetic code that you're born with?” What causes these differences in health outcomes? For this Discussion, you will apply a framework developed by Kindig, Asada, and Booske (2008) to a population health issue of interest to you. This framework includes five key health determinants that should be considered when developing policies and programs to improve population health: access to health care, individual behavior, social environment, physical environment, and genetics. Review the article “A Population Health Framework for Setting National and State Health Goals,” focusing on population health determinants. Review the information in the blog post “What Is Population Health?” With this information in mind, elect a population health issue that is of interest to you. conduct a search to locate current data on your population health issue. Consider how epidemiologic data has been used to design population health measures and policy initiatives in addressing this issue. summaize how the five population health determinants (access to health care, individual behavior, social environment, physical environment, and genetics) affect your selected health issue, and which determinants you think are most impactful for that particular issue and why. Explain how epidemiologic data supports the significance of your issue, and explain how this data has been used in designing population health measures and policy initiatives. Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.) The world factbook. Retrieved from https://www(dot)cia(dot)gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html Kindig, D., Asada, Y., & Booske, B. (2008). A population health framework for setting national and state health goals. JAMA, 299(17), 2081–2083. doi: 10.1001/jama.299.17.2081
Health Determinants
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Population health relates closely to the health outcomes of the various individuals in the population and the distribution of the same within the individuals of a group (Improvingpopulationhealth.org, 2014). Within every other population, there are disparities that defines the various subtypes, such as geography, gender and race/ethnicity among others. Regardless of the disparities that occur within the population of choice, there is a general aspect of determining the population health and it relates to the overall health within the population. If the greater majority within the population is healthy, then the entire population is considered to of good health, even though part of the minority does not have great health. Ideally, a good number of the minorities will be in good health if the population in its entirety has good health (Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.). There are five major determinant factors that define the level of health within the population including; genetics, social environment, physical environment, health care access and the individual’s behavior. These determinants are included in a model that was first formulated by Evans and Stoddart and was later expanded by Stoddart and Kindig. Public health policies are designed in a manner that will affect these determinant factors so that they can influence the outcomes of the population health (Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the African Americans were more likely to become obese by 51% compared to the Hispanics who came in at 21%. While the issue of obesity in the population is wrecking havoc to the public sector, the most affected within the American population are the African American children. Currently more than 35% of the African American children between the age of 2 and 19 are obese or overweight (Kindig, Asada, & Booske, 2008). This is much higher than the average obesity rates of the American children within this age, who have an average of 31.7% being obese or overweight. What is more appalling is the fact that, African American children between the age of 2 and 5 years have an obesity rate of more than 11% (Cdc.gov, 2014). Within the 12 and 19 years age gap, the obesity rates in the African American population has risen from 10% a decade ago to more than 18%. The figures for the African American girls within the ages of 12 and 19 and even more alarming as, more than 29% were found to be obese (Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.).
There are a number of risks that are associated with obesity at this young age and put them at great health risks. The African American children, who are obese, run the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, diabetes type 2, asthma, s...