Foundations Series #1: Social Determinants of Health

Part 1

Part 2

Presented by Leslie Solomonian, ND

Description:
The practice of pediatrics is the epitome of prevention. The seeds of most of the non-communicable chronic diseases that cause such significant morbidity and premature mortality in the world are laid in childhood and during fetal development.  Through naturopathic care, practitioners have an opportunity to promote optimal conditions for growth and development, allowing the child’s vis to be expressed to its fullest potential. A healthy pediatric population is more likely to become a healthy adult population, increasing the transmission of determinants of good health into future generations. However, these determinants of health and disease are not fully within the control of individual families. The expression of a child’s potential is tremendously influenced by social and ecological determinants of health. This includes their family, their home, their immediate community and the social/economic/political structures within it, the health of the natural world within and beyond their community, and the wellbeing of the planet overall.  Personal choice is fundamentally influenced by these broader systems.  Individuals can only be as healthy as the environment of which they are part.

This 2-part interactive webinar will explore these themes and dynamics, laying the foundation for good health for the children in our immediate care, as well as those more distant across time and space.

Objectives:

• Establish a framework for optimizing the health of a child that considers individual, social and ecological determinants;

• Describe the unique vulnerability of children to these determinants;

• Critique the social structures and cultural norms that inform parenting and pediatric health practices in high-resource/industrialized settings, and impact pediatric health globally;

• Identify opportunities and strategies for naturopathic doctors to influence determinants of health for children in the clinic, but also in the community and globally.

Biography:

My passion for pediatrics is rooted in my awareness that caring for kids and teaching principles of healthy living is the best way to prevent dis-ease for them and for the planet in the future. The principle of sustainability means that we must teach kids to care for themselves and the world around them so that there is abundance throughout their own lives and for the next generations.

Fun Fact: I was a gestational surrogate for a close friend, and I'm colourblind - rare for a person with two X-chromosomes!