‘Map-It’ Framework in Addressing Social Determinats of Health

Introduction For the past two decades Utah County has been ranked among those US counties with healthiest populations. In spite of this, assessment on life expectancy of the inhabitants of Utah State shows that some problems have cropped into the local occupants depriving them of their once notable rich health status (Novilla, Barnes, Hanson, West Edwards, 2011). A close examination shows that there are inherent health disparities among Utah citizens and this is as a result of the notable variations in life expectancies among different groups. Research shows that in some parts of the Utah state, life expectancy is 80 years while in the other areas within the same state the life expectancy is 70 years. Research shows that Utah ranking†¦show more content†¦This would form a string basis for the identiofication of the key cause of majority of health care professionals. Given the fact that in most countries individuals do not visit hospitals because of incapability to pay for medical costs, I would do a qualitative research where I would collect health care information from local residents. This research would provide information on the number of people who have died because they where not able to afford health care since they were not members of the Medicaid health care insurance program. Another strategy would involve utilizing data from existing public sources to assess the health and safety needs of the people of Utah County. The main elements of the collected data would involve the identification of the key health indicators and the corresponding risk factors. I would also collect information related to the impact of the social, economic and the environment on the health status of Utah inhabitants. The key sources of data for the assessment of needs of Utah populations would include US census bureau, healthy people 2020, environment public health tracking program, department of mental health and substance abuse and Utah hospital discharge database. Other sources of information for the need assessment would include the indicator based information system indicator for the public health department and Utah’s healthcare access survey (Niederdeppe, Bu, Borah, Kindig Robert, 2008). I