Final answer:
Social Determinants of Health (SdH) are factors that influence individual and communal health outcomes, encompassing socioeconomic and geographic conditions. They explain health disparities unlike the Global Burden of Illness, which measures disease impact. Social epidemiology studies the SdH, highlighting the differences in health experiences due to these social factors.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Social Determinants of Health (SdH) are a set of factors that impact health and wellbeing by shaping the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. These determinants include a wide range of issues such as socioeconomic status, geography, ethnicity, and education. Unlike the Global Burden of Illness, which quantifies the impact of diseases globally, the SdH explains how social and economic conditions influence health disparities. Social epidemiology is a key area that focuses on the causes and distribution of diseases, particularly how they affect different demographics differently depending on these determinants.
In high-income countries, diseases are often linked to lifestyle and environment, such as cancer and diabetes, while in low-income nations, the concerns are more around infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease, and inadequate healthcare systems. The health landscape of the United States sees disparities based on race, with Black adults nearly twice as likely as White adults to develop type 2 diabetes, illustrating how SdH play a significant role in health outcomes. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has further highlighted the role of SdH in health equity, with factors like poverty, employment, housing conditions, and underlying chronic diseases being key influencers of health risks and outcomes.