QUESTIONS Watch online video clips from the documentary “ Unnatural Causes: Is Inequity Making Us Sick? Go to http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/video_clips.php, use the dropdown next to “Select Filter”...

1. What is the significance of the series title/name Unnatural Causes? Explain.
The title of the series Unnatural Causes is significant because it draws our attention towards the
multidimensionality of the aetiology of any disease. It impresses upon the interaction between an
individual‟s physiology, social conditions, and the psychology that result in a state of health or ill
ness. Illness is commonly attributed to the biological determinants that can range from an individ
ual‟s genetic predisposition to contract illness, status of immunity, to the exposure to pathogens i
n the environment. However, we tend to overlook the factors such as emotional state, stress level
s, socio-economic status or health seeking behavior of an individual i.e. in general the social and
psychological determinants of health because they seem least obvious and „unnatural‟ to us. Ther
efore the title of the series intends to focus on this narrow or myopic approach to the notion of he
alth and well being.
2. What are social determinants of health? Provide Examples.
According to the Rio political declaration that was endorsed at Geneva, Switzerland “the social d
eterminants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age” (W
HO, 2012). These social determinants are responsible for global health inequities owing to the ro
le they play at not just global scale but at a very local scale as well. The factors that affect health
conditions of the community are not just restricted to an individual level but at the level of comm
unity in terms of availability of resources, social hierarchy, notions of power and marginalization
, governance, inequity in political framework, exposure to risks, and so on....