|Determinants of Health| Through the work of researchers such as
Sir Michael Marmot, we now understand that good health does not
lie solely with medical interventions but also with living
conditions and personal choices (4, 5). Determinants of health
are lifestyle-based properties affected by broader social,
economic, and political forces that influence quality of
personal health. These attributes include but are not limited to
education level, employment, income level and distribution,
housing, childhood development, food security and nutrition,
race, gender, and stress. Such factors have been shown to have
marked associations with risks for different illnesses, life
expectancy, and life-time morbidity. In recent decades,
increasing health disparities in developed countries and between
developing and developed countries have been associated with
these social factors. While public health workers and
policymakers seek to reduce this divide, they face challenges in
designing and implementing programs that are c