In clinical today (one of my classes for nursing) we discussed the top three determinants of Health in Canada.
They are:
1. Income and social status
2.Social support networks
3. Education and Literacy
note:published by public health Canada
When we looked over these top three my mind began to fill with differant thoughts about my time in Africa as well as people here in Canada.
So lets take a look!
Its interesting, but logically makes sense that those who are most healthy have a good income. Think those who have more money can buy healther foods (since they are generally more expensive) can have to all inclusive gym pass etc. Along with money often comes greater social status which inforces a more postive lookout on life which increases mental health! yay!!! Now this is great in all that these high income people can be healthy but why should health be determined by the paycheck that the person recieves each week? I have no idea how to answer that question or fix that problem but it was brought to my attention today. Who are the people that need healthcare and assistance the most? The ones who don't have that money. I am hoping to learn more this semester how this can be change or how people can make a differance in this area
Social support networks are also key. My logic of the reason is that if you have a network that can keep you accountable to being healthy then obviously its more likely going to happen! Its interesting to think in a global perspective of how differant cultures have differant support groups. Example of this would be in Africa people are 'group orientated' meaning that spending time alone or not building relationships is practically none existant there. So for them this is the easiest thing in the world! Which brings me hope that these people who are not considered high income can have a chance at truely being healthy by relying and helping each other!
The last one mentioned was education and literacy. Everytime I see the word literacy I think of the organization I went to Cameroon with this summer. We discussed with one of the literacy teachers in Oku and he explained that they had literacy availible in the Oku language to help people become more aware of health issues. I have also learned that this is happening in a variety of other minority languages around the world. Its fantastic to think that Health is being promoted and these people have the chance to recieve education in regards to health because of translation. I saw again and again how important it was for people to learn in their mother tongue so to teach them health in it as well is incredible!
So what's the conclusion of all of this? Well to get you to think and for me to start my thinking and connecting process. When I first heard these determinants in made me almost cry because there are people everywhere who do not have these basic things to help gain and maintain their health but as I was thinking about it more organizations such as Wycliffe are making a differance. The even cooler thing is that God gave these people who do not have the income the ability to build community that North America lost a long time ago.
This was also really neat because it gave me some insight into the needs that Canada faces in regards to Health and also around the world. Maybe this is part of Gods plan for my future, until then I'll keep learning and rely on him to give me the knowledge that I need to exceed and excel to be the best nurse I can be!
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