Let me clean up the difference between the concept of health status and the social determinants of health. The health status represents a complex concept, including many aspects from the biological structure and functioning to social activities. At the same time, SDOH primarily refers to the social environment of people’s lives. Surprisingly, the social and demographic attributes influence the health conditions and comfort of the individuals, groups, and populations. The social determinants include gender, ethics, social code, scholarship, earnings, employment, etc.
Speaking about social determinants of health in the USA, this topic is especially actual right now, according to the covid-19 pandemic. The significant role of healthcare providers is health safety, and that is why at all levels of health care, the determinants should be taken into consideration. According to Singu (2020), several SDOH aspects are interrelated and played a significant role during the pandemic. Such factors as education and the possibility to earn money in quarantine conditions, or socioeconomic factors, social support, and income. There are also a lot of controversial issues in American health determinants at all.
Other developed countries spend even less on healthcare than the USA and still have better outcomes. It possibly happens because of ignoring some factors while focusing on medicalized approach. Inungu and Minelli (2021) identify such critical factors as economic landscape, population sociodemographic characteristics as a part of the environmental context of the problem. This question is highly significant, and it seems essential to consider social determents of health while performing the health care providing activities.
References
Inungu, J.M. & Minelli, M.J. (2021). Foundations of Rural Public Health in America. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Singu, S., Acharya, A., Challagundla, K., & Byrareddy, S. N. (2020). Impact of Social Determinants of Health on the Emerging COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States. Frontiers in Public Health, 8. Web.