Religion as a Social Determinant of Public Health

Religion as a Social Determinant of Public Health, Local Faith Communities as partners in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.

Low income situations negatively affect health outcomes of populations, hence, threatening the ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Research carried out so far on issues of income, education and life expectancy, have come to a common consensus that poverty reduction would promote healthier populations.

In seeking partners to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, this course seeks to understand the relationship between health and religion. Undertaken is the study of religion in influencing public health outcomes in communities. Highlighted is the importance of  religion as an element in the Social Determinants of Health. This is particularly important in the efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations by 2030.

Thus, in reflecting on the interaction between religion and health, one thought can be that, if religion is central in many people’s lives then religion can be said to be central to managing public health issues and be a driver for wellbeing in communities. This leads us to a conclusion that, religion and health cannot be regarded as independent of each other.

Hence, established is that Local Faith Communities are driven by religion, which in this instance, is said to be a social determinant of health. And in enforcing the notion that health, cannot be separated from religion, Local Faith Communities, therefore, should be considered as partners for public health.