Page 3 - Social Health Determants by KCA

Access to Education

Education and access to good quality education is another vital point for the
determination of one’s health as much as its vital for human development. Kids who
have access to good education and later on proceed to acquire further higher
education have a better probability of obtaining a well-paying job that in turn affords
them the ability to be economically stable. Kids who do not enjoy these same
privileges have it harder because jobs these days entail one to have set educational
requirements before they offer you a good well-paying job. These kids will then have
to go through hardships in life stressing about not being able to afford economic
stability due to their lack of education growing up and this also contributes to the
crime rates as well as unemployment rates in South Africa.in a Mediterranean
Journal of Social Sciences study it showed that “Unemployment is considered to be
the root cause of many problems South Africa is facing today such as crime, poverty
and suicide, the results of the study showed that the low level of education is
responsible for the high rate of unemployment and bears a direct relationship with
the high rate of crime.” (Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2014)

Communities structure and Inhabitants within them

Besides the social scars and economic disadvantages “Apartheid” has left on its
victims there is also the imbalance of how communities are set up geographically. I
have noticed that townships with inhabitants of low to middle income salaries often
find themselves on small land on the outskirts of these towns and cities where as
those inhabitants of higher income salaries often occupy much larger land closer to
the Central Business District of these towns and cities. The microeconomics within
these communities also need to be considered when looking at the social
determents of health, the low to middle income areas have a lack of or little amount
of recreational facilities where their inhabitants can occupy their leisure time, as
business owners look to open stores closer to the CBD. Whereas in high income
areas people are afforded the luxury of having publics pools, fields, malls and
various centres or hubs for recreation. Being deprived of this much needed time off
is detrimental to the mental health and can lead to burn out, anxiety and later
depression if left unchecked. How these communities are set up and how inhabitants
interact within these communities are very vital in determining how healthy these
people grow to become as we are all a product of our circumstances and
environment. A lot of changes need to take place as I feel South Africa still does not
have enough people recognizing their best self and reaching the top of Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs due to its major gap between rich and poor when these social
health determents as well as “Apartheid” past is taken into consideration.