In order to answer these questions, we had to learn: What makes up health? We answered this question both in our speech and presentation citing information from the WHO. The WHO reported on 7 determinants of health: income/social status, education, physical environment, social support networks, genetics, health services, and gender. Because our project revolved around health knowledge, having education as a key determinant fit right in. Additionally, education is one of the only mutable determinants—meaning we could make a difference.
Once we cemented that we would solve this problem through education, we began researching …show more content…
Because educations affects health so much, we utilized a quote from Dr. Keon Gilbert from SLU School of Public Health. Dr. Gilbert explains that education “is a gatweay to a better health, stable employment with a living wage, living in safer neighborhoods in at least three ways…”
In order to understand the problem we would be solving, we also needed to research more about Saint Louis, its inhabitants, and the health problems they faced. We established early on that our target demography would be the African American community in North County. We chose this because they have fewer resources, have less access to health care, and poorer access to quality education. Most of this information about the African American community, including graphics, was taken by the “For the Sake of All” report published in 2015 by WashU and SLU. This 78 page …show more content…
We utilized a plethora of reports from both government organizations and private companies—which really helped us understand what health literacy was about. For example, the majority of our information on health literacy (definition, quotes, etc.) came from a report published by the WHO in 2009. While this may seem outdated, we didn’t necessarily use this source that extensively for data. All we used it for was background on what health literacy actually