Social Determinants of Health and Implication for Adult Education in Ghana: A Conceptual Study

Year 2020, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 15 - 28, 01.01.2020

Boadi Agyekum

Abstract

The recognition that social factors have an important impact on people’s health has a long-standing history.
However, there was a renewed interest when the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) was
established by World Health Organization (WHO) in 2005 to support countries and global health partners in
addressing the social factors leading to ill health and health inequalities. Since then, the concept of SDOH and its
applications have evolved and expanded as researchers have examined the dynamic socio-cultural and economic
roots and routes to experiences of health and wellbeing in society. This paper explores how, where and to what
benefit the social determinants of health concept has been applied to date, and how such applications have
contributed to its critical evolution as a relevant and useful concept in health research, education and practice. This
paper summarizes the key themes identified in the literature, broadly in keeping with the core material, social,
cultural and economic dimensions of the concept with examples from Ghana, Africa. Through this process, this
paper identifies strength and limitations of the concept and its implications for adult education, as well as
knowledge gaps and future directions for work in this field, contributing to wider interdisciplinary discussions and
debates around social determinants of adults’ health. The research model is crucial for adult educationalists when
they design course curriculum for educational institutions.

Keywords

Socio-cultural, economic, adult,

References

• World Health Organization. (2008). Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Final report of the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. Geneva. World Health Organization.