Social determinants of health (SDOH) are conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes. Healthy People 2030 uses a place-based framework that outlines five key areas of SDOH:
Healthcare access and quality: the connection between people’s access to and understanding of health services and their own health. This domain includes key issues, such as access to healthcare, access to primary care, health insurance coverage and health literacy.- Education access and quality: the connection to education to health and well being. This domain includes key issues, such as graduating from high school, enrollment in higher education, educational attainment in general, language and literacy and early childhood education and development.
- Social and community context: the connection between the characteristics of the context within which people live, learn, work and play, and their health and well being. This includes topics like cohesion in a community, civic participation, discrimination, conditions in the workplace and incarceration.
- Economic stability: the connection between the finances people have – income, cost of living and socioeconomic status – and their health. This area includes key issues, such as poverty, employment, food security and housing stability.
- Neighborhood and built environment: the connection between where a person lives – housing, neighborhood and environment – and their health and well being. This includes topics like housing, access to transportation, availability of healthy foods, air and water quality, and neighborhood crime and violence.
How can addressing social determinants of health improve health?
Resources that enhance quality of life can have a significant influence on population health outcomes. Examples of these resources include safe and affordable housing, access to education, public safety, availability of healthy foods, local emergency/health services, and environments free of life-threatening toxins. Healthy People 2030 highlights the importance of addressing SDOH by including “social and physical environments that promote good health for all” as one of the four overarching goals for the decade. By applying what we know about SDOH, we can not only improve individual and population health, but also advance health equity. Learn more by visiting the Healthy People 2030 site.
Find additional CDC programs and tools to address SDOH.
The Rural Health Information Hub and the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis recently introduced the Social Determinants of Health in Rural Communities Toolkit, designed to support organizations implementing programs to address social determinants of health in rural communities.