World Health Organistion: Social Determinants Of Health
There is not a single way to determine the health of the public, therefor social determinants are used in order to show health and social status and give reason as to why health varies across the world (Hill et al, 2010). According to the World Health Organistion (2015), social determinants relating to health are the circumstances in which people find themselves, collectively because of where they are born, how they live, their working life and their age. It claims that these conditions are defined by the “distribution of money, power and resources”. When looking at specific social determinants, substance misuse and addiction has a big impact on society with approximately 5.7% of the worlds population, of adult age, use ‘psychoactive’ substances
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As stated by Naidoo and Wills (2009), those who study the demography relating to diseases found in society have shown that depending on social determinants it is possible to predict that people’s health will be poorer than that of others in society and they may die prematurely. There is several ways in which addiction is one the social determinants, which have a detrimental effect on physical health and poorly impacts life expectancy. According to WHO (WHO**, 2015), intravenous drug use accounts for 1 in 10 diagnoses of HIV/AIDs in Europe, which, due to the illnesses complexities, severely reduces life expectancy and overall health and in the Drug Misuse Scotland Report (2012) it is reported that in Scotland specifically there were 20 new cases of HIV/AIDs among intravenous drug users in 2010 alone as well as 1,034 new cases of Hepatitis C in the same type of users. However, intravenously is not the only form of drug use, which has detrimental effects on physical health. Stimulants, for example, such as ecstasy, amphetamines and crack cocaine and the abuse of solvents can all result in organ failure, brain damage and death (Mental Health Foundation, 2015). In terms of tobacco use, smoking accounts for 80% of a lung cancers worldwide (WHO*, 2015) and between 2012 and 2013 alone (NHS, ISD, 2014), in Scotland there were around 36,000 alcohol related admissions to acute
As stated by Naidoo and Wills (2009), those who study the demography relating to diseases found in society have shown that depending on social determinants it is possible to predict that people’s health will be poorer than that of others in society and they may die prematurely. There is several ways in which addiction is one the social determinants, which have a detrimental effect on physical health and poorly impacts life expectancy. According to WHO (WHO**, 2015), intravenous drug use accounts for 1 in 10 diagnoses of HIV/AIDs in Europe, which, due to the illnesses complexities, severely reduces life expectancy and overall health and in the Drug Misuse Scotland Report (2012) it is reported that in Scotland specifically there were 20 new cases of HIV/AIDs among intravenous drug users in 2010 alone as well as 1,034 new cases of Hepatitis C in the same type of users. However, intravenously is not the only form of drug use, which has detrimental effects on physical health. Stimulants, for example, such as ecstasy, amphetamines and crack cocaine and the abuse of solvents can all result in organ failure, brain damage and death (Mental Health Foundation, 2015). In terms of tobacco use, smoking accounts for 80% of a lung cancers worldwide (WHO*, 2015) and between 2012 and 2013 alone (NHS, ISD, 2014), in Scotland there were around 36,000 alcohol related admissions to acute