Factors Contributing to Health Disparities and Access to Care Services

Health disparity refers to preventable differences in Health and healthcare usually experienced by socially disadvantaged communities. Factors contributing to health disparity include but are not limited to genetics, access to care, language barriers, community features such as poverty and lack of access to healthy foods, health behaviors, and environmental conditions such as air pollution. Now, let’s focus on factors contributing to access to care services. Access to care service remains a traditional problem in the U.S. Factors contributing to poor access to care services in the U.S include lack of insurance coverage, high cost of healthcare, physical barriers such as geographic location, language barriers, illiteracy, healthcare staffing shortages, and others. These factors affect the utilization of care services and have been implicated in low quality of life for the affected communities (Gómez et al., 2021).

Social Determinants of Health

The social determinants of Health refer to conditions in the human environment that affect their Health, functionalities, and quality of life. Healthy People 2020 outlines the five domains of SDOH and defines the objectives for each. These domains are economic stability, neighborhood and built environment, access to quality health services and education, and social and community contexts. The goal of Healthy People 2020 on financial stability is to help people and communities earn steady incomes that meet their healthcare and personal needs. On access to quality healthcare and education, the goal of Healthy People 2020 is to increase educational opportunities for children and adolescents and increase access to comprehensive and high-quality healthcare. Another goal is to create neighborhoods that support Health and safety. In the social context, Healthy People 2020 aims to increase social and community support.