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September/October 2023

SDOH, Children, and Food

Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. SDOH can be grouped into five domains:
  1. Economic Stability
  2. Education Access and Quality
  3. Health Care Access and Quality
  4. Neighborhood and Built Environment
  5. Social and Community Context
Social determinants of health (SDOH) have a major impact on people’s health, well-being, and quality of life. Examples of SDOH include:
  • Safe housing, transportation, and neighborhoods
  • Racism, discrimination, and violence
  • Education, job opportunities, and income
  • Access to nutritious foods and physical activity opportunities
  • Polluted air and water
  • Language and literacy skills
SDOH contribute to wide health disparities and inequities. For example, people who don’t have access to grocery stores with healthy foods are less likely to have good nutrition. That raises their risk of health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity — and even lowers life expectancy relative to people who do have access to healthy foods.

Just promoting healthy choices won’t eliminate these and other health disparities. Instead, public health organizations and their partners in sectors like education, transportation, and housing need to take action to improve the conditions in people’s environments.

Healthy People 2030, an initiative of the United States Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, sets data-driven national objectives to improve health and well-being over the next decade. It identifies public health priorities to help individuals, organizations, and communities across the United States improve health and well-being. Healthy People 2030, the initiative’s fifth iteration, builds on knowledge gained over the first four decades.

Food insecurity is referenced in each of the domains. A notable objective of Healthy People 2030 is to “Eliminate very low food security in children,” because, “Children in the United States with very low food security often don’t have enough to eat. This is linked to negative health outcomes and may cause children to have trouble in school. Giving more people benefits through nutrition assistance programs, increasing benefit amounts, and reducing unemployment may help reduce very low food security in children.” 
 
— Healthy People 2030, Social Determinants of Health, https://health.gov/healthypeople.