Health in Ecuador: Social Determinants & Physical Environment - Essay Sample

Introduction

The health of an individual is influenced by several factors, which may include genetics, physical and environmental influences, behavior, as well as social factors. Ecuador is a country that straddles the equator in the West Coast of South America. The country has a diverse landscape that encompasses the Amazon jungle. Some of the social determinants of health in Ecuador include factors such as education, social support networks, socioeconomic status, employment, as well as a physical environment that are highly influenced by the Amazon forest. Malnutrition is caused by not eating a diet in which nutrients are not enough or is too much n way that it leads to other health problems (HealthyPeople.gov, 2020). Malnutrition can occur as either undernutrition or over nutrition.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Social determinants of health play a role in malnutrition, especially to children below the age of 5 years. For instance, low income among parents makes it hard for them to obtain food. As a result, children do not get the required balanced diet increased their risk of malnutrition. Other social determinants for health in Ecuador include social support, stress, unemployment, social exclusion, as well as literacy levels (Ramirez-Luzuriaga et al., 2019). The social determinants of health have intense impacts on people, especially to young children under the age of 5 years. For instance, unequal access to health care makes it difficult to manage children that suffer from malnutrition. Besides, poverty makes parents unable to afford the best health care services as well as the provision of a balanced diet to their children, thus exposing them to the risk of malnutrition (Lee et al., 2019). In addition, the lack of education is also a social determinant of health since the lack of it makes parents unaware of the type of foods they should give to their children, which leads to malnutrition. Therefore, the lack of education and low incomes are the greatest social determinants of health that lead to malnutrition in young children below the ages of 5 years.

There are several global health indicators that are used to identify malnutrition in young children below five years, which makes it a priority. Some of the global health indicators for nutrition include overweight, stunting, underweight, as well as wasting. The global health indicators are used by health care providers to identify and understand malnutrition in young children below five years. In addition, anthropometry is also used to assess and identify malnutrition, and it involves the measurements of the body size of an individual as well as the composition (Lee et al., 2019). Nutritionists measure malnutrition among children by analyzing certain factors such as weight loss, growth restriction, as well as deficiency-related disorders. Wasting is used to describe and analyze the signs of thinness, which develops due to a recent rapid weight loss in young children. Stunting describes low height for a particular age, which is caused by long-term insufficient intake of nutrients as well as a result of frequent infections. Underweight is also a parameter that is used to identify malnutrition and describes low weight for a particular height.

Conclusion

The social determinants of health contribute to malnutrition of young children in many forms. For instance, low capital and lack of education make it difficult for parents to provide balanced diets to their children. Some of the global indicators for malnutrition include overweight, underweight, stunting, as well as wasting. Countries such as Ecuador should develop strategies such as the provision of quality education and health care to help eradicate malnutrition.

References

HealthyPeople.gov (2020). Social determinants of health.

Lee, G., Gutierrez, C., Jones, A., Castro, N., Cevallos, W., & Eisenberg, J. (2019). Double Burden of Malnutrition in Rural Ecuador: Adult Overweight and Child Stunting Co-Occur at the Community but Not the Household Level (P10-075-19). Current developments in nutrition, 3(Supplement_1), nzz034-P10.

Ramirez-Luzuriaga, M. J., Belmont, P., Waters, W. F., & Freire, W. B. (2019). Malnutrition inequalities in Ecuador: differences by wealth, education level, and ethnicity. Public Health Nutrition, 1-9.