HEALTH PROMOTION

LECTURE FIVE

BY: DESMOND BAYOR

(OGK)
CHNTC-JIRAPA

DETERMENTS HEALTH
DETERMENTS HEALTH

EK DESSI @ OGK
HEALTH

EK DESSI @ OGK
 DEFINITION OF HEALTH
• World Health Organization (WHO, 1948), Health is
a state of complete physical, social and mental
well-being and not merely the absence of disease
or infirmity
• It can be deduced from the above definitions that
to be healthy does not only mean the body being
fit, but the mind must also be at ease, and one
must be able to live and work well with the family
and relate well with others in the community

EK DESSI @ OGK
• One would attempt to describe
health as a condition of being free
from the physical, mental and social
factors that predispose one to
potential or actual problems of
living, having the ability to access
positive living opportunities, and
being able to relate well with
other people.
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SOME COMMON TERMS OF THE VARIOUS DEFINITIONS

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 Physical health
• Physical health refers to ability to perform
daily activities, this is most obvious
dimensions of health, and is concerned with
the mechanistic functioning of the body (Ewes
& Signet, 1996)

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 Mental/Intellectual health
• Mental/Intellectual health: this is the ability
to think clearly and coherently or the ability to
think clearly, reason objectively, & analyze
critically

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 Emotional health:
• This is the ability to express emotions
appropriately and controlling it when
necessary.
• That is the ability to recognize emotions such
as fear, joy, grief, anger, and to express such
emotions appropriately. It also means coping
with stress, tension, depression and anxiety.

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 Societal health:
• social health means the ability to make and
maintain relationships with other people.
• A person‘s health is related to everything
surrounding that person.
• It is impossible to be healthy in a sick society, which
does not provide the resources for basic physical
and emotional needs, like food, clothing, shelter
and has political oppression, unemployment,
crimes, and so on.
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 Spiritual health
• Spiritual health- ability to practice moral, religious
or beliefs to achieve peace of mind as it is
connected to religious beliefs and practices

• Illness is defined as a loss of regulatory capacity;

that is, the inability to correctly respond to a wide
variety of internal, environmental and lifestyle
factors. Or ill health refers to a state of disease,
injury, disability or handicap
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 OTHER NON-MATERIAL THINGS THAT AFFECT HEALTH

• Beliefs is an idea that is accepted as being true

• Attitude is an opinion or feeling about people or event
that is formed by ones beliefs
• Value is the beliefs and standards that are most
important to us.
• Behavior is an action that an individual or community
will voluntarily adopt base on their knowledge, beliefs,
attitude and values in relation to their environment.
• Power refer to all those significant others including
individuals, groups or institutions who influence
individuals or community decision to adopt a particular
behavior.
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• Health is regarded by WHO as a fundamental
human right, and correspondingly, all people
should have access to basic resources for
health.

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DETERMENTS HEALTH

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• Determinants of health are things that make
people healthy or not. Many factors combine
together to affect the health of individuals,
families and communities.
• Whether people are healthy or not, is
determined by their circumstances and
environment.

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• Health is influenced by many factors, which may
generally be organized into a number of broad
categories known as determinants of health.
• To a large extent, factors such as where we live,
the state of our environment, genetics, our income
and education level, and our relationships with
friends and family all have considerable impacts
on our health.
• NB: Individuals are unlikely to be able to directly
control many of the determinants of health.

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• Broadly, there are four fundamental factors that
influence the health of an individual.

• Social determinants (home and other places)

• The environment (biological and physical
environment)
• Lifestyle (The individual’s character and
behaviors).
• Psychological determinants of health

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• Since these four factors are the key
determinants of health, health promotion seek
to provide knowledge, skills and favorable
atmosphere to enable the individual manipulate
these determinates in order to ensure good
health

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 SOCIAL DETERMINANT
• Social determinants of health are the conditions
in which people are born, grow, live, work and
age.
• Social determinants of health are all about PLACE.
• PLACE
• •Where we are born
• •Where we grow up
• •Where we age
• •Where we live
• Where we work
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• They include factors like socioeconomic
status, education, neighborhood and
physical environment, employment, and
social support networks, as well as access
to health care.
• Social determinants of health reflect the
social factors and physical conditions of
the environment in which people are
born or live. Socially, greater support
from families, friends and communities is
linked to better health.
EK DESSI @ OGK
• Social support networks – greater support from
families, friends and communities is linked to
better health.
• Culture - customs and traditions, and the beliefs
of the family and community all affect human
health.
• Income and social status - higher income and
social status are linked to better health. The
greater the gap between the richest and poorest
people, the greater the differences in health
status

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• Examples of social determinants include:
• Availability of resources to meet daily needs, such
as educational and job opportunities, living wages,
or healthy foods
• Social norms and attitudes, such as discrimination
• Exposure to crime, violence, and social disorder,
such as the presence of trash
• Social support and social interactions
• Exposure to mass media and emerging
technologies, such as the Internet or cell phones

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• ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
1. BIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT
2. PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

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• A healthy environment is vital to “ensure healthy
lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
Environmental health addresses global, regional,
national, and local environmental factors that
influence human health. Environmental health
determinants include physical, chemical and
biological factors external to a person and all related
behaviors. Collectively, these conditions are referred
to as environmental determinants of health.
• Threats to any one of the environmental
determinants can have an adverse influence on
health and well-being at the population level.
• These environmental threats can occur naturally or
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• Environmental determinants of
health are sub-divided into
biological and
• physical environment
determinants of health

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BIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

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 Biological determinants of health
• Biological determinants can be all the individual
characteristics of a person that have biological
background, including
1. genetics,
2. family predisposition,
3. pathology,
4. health status,
5. body mass index (BMI),
6. birth weight,
7. age, sex or ethnicity.
• These biology determinants may be endogenous or
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 Endogenous
• This biological determinants include
• genetic heritage
• immunity that is passively acquired
from maternal antibodies or
transmitted in maternal milk.

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 Exogenous
• Exogenous biological determinants of health
are the other living things with which humans
interact.
• The most important are microorganisms which
humans could not live without.

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• Some biological and genetic factors affect specific
populations more than others
• For example, older adults are biologically prone to
being in poorer health than adolescents due to the
physical and cognitive effects of aging.
• Sickle cell disease is a common example of a genetic
determinant of health.
– Sickle cell is a condition that people inherit when both
parents carry the gene for sickle cell.

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• Examples of biological and genetic determinants
of health include:
1. Age and Sex
2. Inherited conditions, such as sickle-cell anemia,
hemophilia,
3. Family history of heart disease,
 -mental illness,
 -diabetes,
 -hypertension etc.

EK DESSI @ OGK
 PHYSICAL
DETERMINANTS OF
HEALTH

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 Physical determinants of health
• Health reflects the physical conditions of the
environment in which people are born, live, learn,
play or work.
• Poor health outcomes are often made worse by
the interaction between individuals and their
social and physical environment.
• Examples of physical determinants include:
• Natural environment, such as plants, weather, or
climate change, Housing, homes and
neighborhoods, worksites, schools, and
recreational settings EK DESSI @ OGK
• Exposure to toxic substances and other physical
hazards
• Physical barriers, especially for people with
disabilities
• Aesthetic elements, such as good lighting, trees,
or benches

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LIFE STYLE DETERMINANTS
OF HEALTH

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• life style determinants of health
• Individual behavior/lifestyle also plays a role in
health outcomes.
• Thus, individual lifestyle determinants have a
strong effect on a person's well-being.
• For example, if an individual quits smoking, his
or her risk of developing heart disease is greatly
reduced on the other if an individual stats
smoking his or her risk of developing heart
disease is greatly increase.
•
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• Many public health and health care interventions
focus on positively changing individual behaviors
such as substance abuse, diet, and physical
activity.
• Positive changes in individual behavior can reduce
the rates of chronic disease in this country.
• Examples of individual behavior/lifestyle
determinants of health include
1. Diet: our way of eating
2. Physical activity
3. Alcohol, cigarette, and other drug abuse
4. Hand washing, Etc. EK DESSI @ OGK
 PSYCHOLOGICAL
DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
• Good psychological/mental health is integral to
human health and well-being.
• A person’s mental health and many common mental
disorders are shaped by various
1. social,
2. economic,
3. physical environments operating at different stages
of life.
• Risk factors for many common mental disorders are
heavily associated with social inequalities (WHO,
2014).
EK DESSI @ OGK
THANK
YOU
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