[Ibadan Journal of Sociology, June, 2019, 9 ]
[© 2014-2019 Ibadan Journal of Sociology]74That SDoH are influenced by policies and programs, and associated with
better health outcomes: Magnan (2017) posited that SDoH are influenced
by the interactions of policies and the environments. In view of these
interactions, socioeconomic conditions that shape and reshape health
outcomes in the population are affected. For example, the policy of no
tobacco smoking in public places is to avoid its effects on second-hand
smokers. This policy may not only reduce the risk of under-five deaths in
public places but also in the households. What this means is that before the
actual seeking of medical help in the events of disease occurrences among
under-five children that may lead to death, there would have been
preventive measures that will guide the occurrences of such diseases in the
society.
That new payment models are prompting interest in the SDoH: The new
payments models such as the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for
under-five children relative to immunization programmes, are actually
designed to improve the health outcomes of the children, consequently
leading to reduced U5MR in the population. This implies that the costs of
medical care coupled with the new payment models for medical care among
children under the age of five greatly influence the health outcomes
following the effective implementation of the programmes in the country.
This mode of payment for health care services are geared towards reducing
the cost burden of the mothers of under-five children in seeking medical
help from skilled health professionals. However, despite the implementation
of the programmes, the awareness and utilization of such programmes lie on
the knowledge of mothers about the programmes which is assumed to be
acquired through education.
That the frameworks for integrating SDoH are emerging: In order to yield
desired health outcomes in a population, it is assumed that the SDoH
framework is integrated into primary care. In other words, all programmes
initiated for children under the age of five are expected to be implemented
without discrimination whether by place of residence, ethnicity, income
level, and socioeconomic status (SES) among others. By this, all barriers to
utilization of medical care by the less privileged in the population as well as
the most vulnerable populations such as the under-five children will be
eliminated.
That experimentation is occurring at the local and federal level: The
SDoH explores all connections among health care providers including the
nonmedical needs of patients (such as food, housing, and transportation)
with the assumption that their health outcomes will improve rather than
focusing more on the medical care among patients. This suggests that
adequate provisions of food supplements, housing and conducive