Q&A: Identifying social determinants of health

Q: What is considered the most significant social determinant of health (SDoH)?

A: Food insecurity is viewed as the most significant SDoH, as well as the easiest to resolve. Countless individuals must choose between food and other health essentials (e.g., medication, healthcare supplies). One in eight people in the U.S. struggles with some level of food insecurity—a situation of limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways. Poverty and food insecurity often go hand in hand. Close to 18 million households are food-insecure, with more than 49 million people struggling to put adequate food on the table. Food insecurity is not a problem of the U.S. alone. More than 821 million people worldwide are chronically undernourished.

For more information, see The Social Determinants of Health: Case Management's Next Frontier.