Health is a multifactorial The factors which determine the health of an individual are many, some are inside the body ( genetic/ intrinsic) and some are outside the body ( environmental factors) The interaction of these factors may either promote or deteriorate the health. The important determinants of health are,

1. Determinants of Health
Dr. SASI KUMAR PJ,
1st Yr PG,
Dept. of Community Medicine,
Narayana Medical College.

2. Contents
❖ Introduction
❖ Biological determinants
❖ Behavioural and sociocultural conditions
❖ Environment
❖ Socioeconomic conditions
❖ Health services
❖ Ageing of population
❖ Gender
❖ Other factors
❖ References

3. Health
Determinants of Health
❖ Health is a multifactorial
❖ The factors which determine the health of an individual
are many, some are inside the body ( genetic/ intrinsic)
and some are outside the body ( environmental factors)
❖ The interaction of these factors may either promote or
deteriorate the health.
❖ The important determinants of health are,
is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing
and not merely absence of disease or infirmity.

4. Biological Determinants:
• Genetic makeup is unique which cannot be altered.
• Diseases like chromosomal anomalies, errors of
metabolism, some types of diabetes etc are genetic in
origin.
• From genetic point of view ,Health may be defined as “the
presence in the genetic constitution of the genes that
correspond to normal characterisation and to presence of
normal genes.
• Medical genetics offers hope for prevention and treatment
of widespread of diseases.

5. Behavioural & Socio-cultural conditions:
• Lifestyle - The way people live.
• It corresponds to cultural & behavioural patterns and
personal habits like smoking & alcoholism.
• Health requires promotion of healthy lifestyles.
• In many developed countries coronary heart disease,
obesity, lung cancer, drug addiction are associated with
lifestyle changes.
• In developing countries like india, risk of illness and death
are connected with lack of sanitation, poor nutrition,
personal hygiene etc.

6. Environment:
• Hippocrates - 1st related disease to the
environment.
• Pettenkofer - concept of disease -
environment association.
Environment
Internal External

7. • Environment has a direct impact on physical, mental &
social wellbeing of those living it.
• The environmental factors range from housing, water
supply, psychosocial stress and family structure through
social and economic support systems, to the organisation
of health and social welfare services in the community.
• Protection and promotion of family and environmental
health is one of the major issues in the world today.
Contd…

8. Socio-economic conditions:
For the majority of the world’s people, health is determined
primary by their level of socio-economic development, e.g.,
per capita GNP, education, nutrition, employment, housing,
the political system of the country, etc.
Those of major importance are :
Economic Status
Education
Occupation
Political System

9. Economic Status:
• The per capita GNP is most widely accepted measure of
Economic status.
• The economic status determines :
• The purchasing power,
• Standard of living,
• Quality of life,
• Family size and the pattern of disease &
• Deviant behaviour in the community.
Upper socio-economic groups may also be a
contributory cause of high rates of coronary heart
disease, diabetes and obesity.

10. Education: • 2nd major factor influencing health status.
• Especially female education.
• Illiteracy can be a major cause of poverty,
malnutrition, ill health, high infant and
child mortality rates.
• low education levels are linked with
poor health, more stress and lower self-
confidence.

11. Occupation:
The very state of being employed in productive work
promotes health, because the unemployed show a higher
incidence of ill health and death.
Loss of work can cause psychological and social damage.
Occupation can lead to disorders like :
Silicosis,
Coal workers pneumonia,
Asbestosis,
Byssinosis etc.

12. Political System:
• Main obstacle to the implementation of health
technologies are not technical, but rather political.
• Percentage of GNP = Quantitative indicator.
• India spends about 3% of its GNP on health and family
welfare
If poor health patterns are
to be changed, then
changes must be made in
entire sociopolitical
system.

13. Health Services:
Purpose - to improve the health status of population.
eg., Immunization of children's,
Provision of safe water ,
Care of pregnant women.
To be effective, health services must reach the social
periphery, equitably distributed, accessible at a cost that the
country afford and socially acceptable - Primary Health Care

14. Aging of the population:
Even though health service prolong the life of the people ,
aging of population itself a matter of concern because
chronic diseases and disabilities accompany the aging
process and deserve special attention.
Some diseases of aged include :
❖ Diabetes
❖ Hypertension
❖ Coronary Heart Disease

15. Gender:
• Men and women suffer from different types of diseases at
different ages.
• In 1993, the Global Commission on Women’s Health was
established with an agenda for action on women’s health
covering nutrition, reproductive health , the health
consequences of violence, aging, lifestyle related
conditions and the occupational environment.

16. Other Factors:
• The services from the health related dept. and
agriculture, social welfare, education, rural development,
urban development, etc. are the other contributory
factors for improving the standards of living.
• Their services are provision of protected water supply,
good roads, lighting etc. This is called intersectoral
coordination.

17. References
• Park. k, Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine,
22rd edition, Chp 2, P 18-20.
• Suryakantha. AH, Community Medicine with Recent
Advances, 3rd edition, Chp 2, P 8-10.
• http://www.who.int/hia/evidence/doh/en/

18. Thank You !