Study Set Content:
() – safe water and clean air, healthy workplaces, safe houses, communities and roads all contribute to good health. () – people in employment are healthier, particularly those who have more control over their working conditions
Physical environment, Employment and working conditions
greater support from families, friends and communities is linked to better health.
Social support networks
customs and traditions, and the beliefs of the family and community all affect health
Culture
inheritance plays a part in determining lifespan, healthiness and the likelihood of developing certain illnesses.
Genetics
– balanced eating, keeping active, smoking, drinking, and how we deal with life’s stresses and challenges all affect health.
Personal behaviour and coping skills
access and use of services that prevent and treat disease influences health
Health services
Men and women suffer from different types of diseases at different ages.
Gender
Many factors combine together to affect the health of individuals and communities. Whether people are healthy or not, is determined by their ()(). 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 health, whereas the more commonly considered factors such as access and use of health care services often have less of an impact
circumstances and environment
The() of people’s lives determine their health, and so blaming individuals for having poor health or crediting them for good health is inappropriate. Individuals are unlikely to be able to directly control many of the determinants of health. These determinants—or things that make people healthy or not—include the above factors, and many others:
context
An evidence base about the impact that projects, programmes and policies have had on health is required to carry out (). The best available evidence is used within the() stage of HIA to determine what impacts may occur (both positive and negative), the size of the impact (if possible) and the distribution of that impact in different population groups.
health impact assessment (HIA), appraisal
It is generally assumed that the evidence for health impacts exists, and that searching and collating will provide the necessary evidence. Unfortunately this is not often the case, and the evidence of health impacts is often
not available
This is because of the long causal pathway between the implementation of a project/programme/policy and any potential impact on population health, and the many confounding factors that make the determination of a link difficult. Within the HIA it is important therefore to be ()about sources of evidence and to identify missing or incomplete information.
explicit
Providing a comprehensive review of the evidence base is not simple. It needs to draw on the best() evidence – that from reviews and research papers, and including qualitative and quantitative evidence. This information must be supplemented with local and expert knowledge, policy information, and proposal specific information.
available
appropriate food being available, with adequate access and being affordable (location of markets, supermarkets and closure of small suppliers creating food deserts in cities). Food supplies, including national and regional food security, and regional production.
Household food security
– able to provide adequate nutrition within a country without relying heavily on imported products
National food security
the safety of transporting products that deteriorate microbiologically in the heat. Dietary patterns, diversity of food available and home production, particularly:
Cold chain reliability
are the major sources of exposure to both chemical and biological hazards. They impose a substantial health risk to consumers and economic burdens on individuals, communities and nations.
Food and water
exposure to radioactive wastes; exposure to health-care wastes;
Environmental degradation, direct and indirect impacts on health;
exposure to solid wastes and involvement in informal waste recycling; and breeding of disease vectors.
Environmental degradation, direct and indirect impacts on health;
Fossil fuels Biomass fuels
Evidence of health impacts focus on health hazards such as:
