SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH IN BELAIR-EDISON

Fahad Alhajeri

April 23, 2018

Prof. Jazmin Ward

HEED103

Time: 10:20 pm

Social Determinants of health in Belair-Edison

 SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH IN BELAIR-EDISON

Social Determinants of Health in Belair-Edison Community

Belair-Edison is located at northeastern part of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Belair-

Edison, neighborhood of Baltimore. Most of the houses were town houses with roadside parking.

The people in the community were really friendly. In community people live together. A

community can be a large group or small group of people.

However in community, people share some common factors, such as culture, norms and

values, religion, resources, and risks. The health of people living in that society depends directly

to the access to the economic and social opportunities. The health is determined by outcomes

resulted from social, environmental, economic, and structural differences in societies. The

community health depends upon education, awareness, and knowledge for healthier practices.

There are social factors which effect the health of individual. Social determinants of health help

to study the relationship between the health and the social factors affecting it. Our team took a

windshield tour over a neighboring community, Belair-Edison, to observe the condition of that

community. Then, we examined the relationship between the social determinants of health in

Belair-Edison.

In the fall of 2008, the Baltimore City Health Department released its first iteration of the

Neighborhood Health Profiles. In 2008 Profiles were developed in an effort to provide residents

information regarding the health status of their specific communities, as well as to facilitate

identification of priority health areas and inspire collaborative action. The Baltimore City Health

Department’s mission is to protect health, eliminate disparities, and ensure the well-being of

every Baltimorean through education, advocacy and direct service delivery.

The first determinant of health is Demography which includes the age, sex, race and health

insurance coverage etc. the total population is Belair Edison is about 16,250. The percentage of
 SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH IN BELAIR-EDISON

male and female in Belair-Edison is: 42.8% male and 57.3% female. The percentage of adults

and children who lack health insurance in Belair-Edison : percentage of adults who lack health

insurance is 13.9% and percentage of children is 6.8%.

The second determinant of health is Built Environment. A community’s built environment

includes physical attributes and structures, such as buildings, lots, parks and green space, streets

and sidewalks, and businesses and retail shops. The built environment affects how people use

space and interact with one another, and it has impacts on neighborhood health. Number of

liquor stores per 10,000 residents are 2.3 as compared to Baltimore city which is 3.8 in 2015.

The number of alcohol store’s density per 10,000 residents of Belair-Edison is 5.2 as compared

to Baltimore city which is 4.6 in 2009. Number of tobacco stores per 10,000 residents are 18.4 as

compared to Baltimore city which is 20.9 in 2016. The percentage of land area that is covered by

“green space” (tree canopy, vegetation, and parkland) for Belair-Edison is 44.3%. The

percentage of land area that is zoned for industrial use in Belair-Edison is 1.1%.

The third determinant of health is Educational Environment and it is the most critical

determinant of health. Ensuring that all residents can achieve their full education potential is

essential to efforts to improve community health. Percentage of kindergartners “fully ready” to

learn in school year 2012-2013 is 75.3% in Belair- Edison as compared to Baltimore city which

is 77.6%. 3rd graders at proficient or advanced reading level in school year 2013-2014 are 52.1%

as compared to Baltimore city which is 55.6%. 8th graders at proficient or advanced reading

level in school year 2013-2014 are 48.4% as compared to Baltimore city which is 54.9%.

The fourth determinant of health is Safety Environment. It includes information on non-fatal

shootings, homicides. The number of service requests regarding animal abuse per 10,000

households for Belair-Edison is 233.2 as compared to Baltimore city which is 177.4.

 SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH IN BELAIR-EDISON

The density of non-fatal shootings per 10,000 residents per year in Belair-Edison is 6.1 as

compared to Baltimore city which is 6.9. The density of homicides that occurred per 10,000

residents per year in Belair-Edison is 4.2 as compared to Baltimore city which is 3.9.

Fifth Determinant of health is Food Environment which includes all of the potential food sources

in a community. It influences whether or not people can find and afford healthy choices.

Improving the food environment is critical to improving health.

Percentage of land covered by food desert is 9.2% as compared to Baltimore city which is

12.5%. Number of carry-out restaurants per 10,000 residents are 6.9 as compared to Baltimore

city which is 11.4. Density of corner stores per 10,000 residents is 11.5 as compared to Baltimore

city which is 14.1. The Density of fast food restaurants per 10,000 residents in Belair-Edison is

0.0 as compared to Baltimore city which is 2.5.

The sixth determinant of health is Economic Stability. With total population of about 17,416, in

year 2010. Similarly, in 2015, the poverty rate is high around 18.6%. Unemployment rate is

16.2% in Belair-Edison as compared to Baltimore city which is 13.1%.

The seventh determinant of health is social and community context. The population in Belair-

Edison belongs to different places like people from America, Africa live in Belair-Edison.

Majority of population belong to Africa and America about 54.7% of population are aged

between 25 – 64 years old. Similarly, 21.5% of the population is between age 5-17 years old and

only 8.4% people above age 65 years

We hope that Belair-Edison will be economically strong in future and some health issues

relating to tobacco and alcohol will be resolved in future. The poverty rate will be decrease in

future when the focus of population will be on education.

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Refferences

Friis, Robert H. (2012) Essentials of Environmental Health (Essential Public Health)

Edberg, Mark. (2014) Essentials of Health Behavior: Social and Behavioral Theory in

Public Health. Burlington. MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning