Health promotion

1. Running Head: DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH 1
Analysis on the Determinants of Health
Maribel Espinosa
Aileen Macuroy
Dave Manriquez
Jeanette Sy
Vancouver Community College
Author Note:
This paper was prepared for Health Promotion taught by Monica Michaels.

2. DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH 2
Introductory
Downtown Eastside is one of the neighbourhoods in Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada and perhaps erroneously known as Canada’s poorest postal code (Downtown Eastside,
2009). In recent years, the Downtown Eastside has struggled with many complex challenges
including drug use that resulted to an increasing number of mental illness in the area, high
incidence of crime and violence, poverty due to lack of education that resulted to unemployment,
homelessness, housing issues, loss of business in the community, and the very prominent sex
industry (What rules apply in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, 2014). This paper talks about an
article posted online in Global News Canada last October 17, 2015 entitled “Hello Neighbour
Project” Provides Intimate Look At Life On Downtown Eastside, written by Yuliya Talmazan.
This article discusses about challenges facing those who live on the streets and the challenges
they face on breaking down the stereotypes. The aim of the project is to gain support from the
public by educating them and giving them the chance to put their selves in the shoes of others to
learn about one of Vancouver’s most unique neighborhood. In addition, the program also gives
importance and awareness for the uniqueness of Downtown Eastside as part of the community
(Hello Neighbour Project, 2015). In this article we identified two social determinants of health,
namely: income and social status, and education and literacy.
First Determinant of Health
Income and social status is the major determinant of health that we identified. In this article,
people were given a chance to see the kind of lifestyle that people living on Downtown Eastside.
Some participants of the project had lived in the same community and were stereotyped as
homeless and drug addicts. Poverty affects health because it limits the availability of material
resources to support health. It also encourages people to engage in health threatening behaviors

3. DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH 3
to cope up with stress and limited resources. Low income families has a barrier on accessing
health services and addiction treatment centers. They do not have resources to cover basic
necessities such as food, clothing, utilities and shelter for their family. As a result, family
breakdown, substance abuse, violence and apprehension of children occur. Isolated and
marginalize population have a difficult time accessing preventive care and nutritious food. In this
article, the goal of the project is to gain support for these vulnerable people.
Second Determinant of Health
The second determinant of health that we identified is education and literacy. This is
important because it influences health directly and indirectly through use of services, lifestyle,
income, work environment and stress levels (Kerr et al., 2014, p. 7). From the article, people
living in Downtown Eastside has limited access to education thus they lack knowledge on how to
promote health. The people who pioneered the project aims to educate both the public as well as
those living in the community that there is a chance to improve one’s life through proper and
adequate education. Health status improves with the level of education. Education is closely
tied to social economic status. Effective education for children and life-long learning for adults
are key contributors to health and prosperity for individuals and for the country. When people
have access to proper education, they have a better chance on getting a good paying job which
improves their income. Having a good income means they have material resources to support
their needs. This in turn lowers the risk of having psychological stress. The project aims to
break the stereotyping by educating the public.

4. DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH 4
Health Promotion Interventions
The living condition in DTES are inadequate for vulnerable citizens. We need to help them to
stay healthy. The income and social status and education and literacy social determinants are
factors that lead to chronic illnesses, poor nutrition, and high rate of hospitalization. Health
promotion interventions are: 1. Develop an affordable housing strategy. Institute a safety
network that include affordable education, housing and income assistance. Creating a system that
provide services in a way in which vulnerable people can navigate it. Establish more social
service integrated teams that consist of community resources, government services and non-
profit resources. This will increases access to healthcare for vulnerable population (heath
gov.bc.ca). 2. Provide program that establishes more co-located service centers for DTES
communities that provide health services in an appropriate context, increasing accessibility of
medical resources.

5. DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH 5
References
Downtown Eastside. (2009). Wikipedia. Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Eastside
What rules apply in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. (2014). Macleans. Retrieved from
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/what-rules-apply-in-vancouvers-downtown-eastside/
Hello Neighbour Project. (2015). Global News. Retrieved from
http://globalnews.ca/news/2283223/hello-neighbour-project-provides-intimate-look-at-life-on-
downtown-eastside/
Kerr, J., Wood, M., Astle, B., Duggleby, W. (2014). Potter and Perry. Canadian Fundamentals of
Nursing. 5th edition. Determinants of Health., p. 7