Dynamic Polarity
“Life is polarized activity, a dynamic polarity” – Georges Canguilhem
Going far beyond an individual’s behavioral choice (or choices, if the individual has more than one option from which to choose), the pandemic provides example after example of how a person’s life situation can affect their Health. Life.
Health, as we know, is socially determined. Factors known as “social determinants of health” influence more than the biological processes of a disease. As is well known and verifiable, access to health insurance, food security, housing security, transportation, personal safety, structural racism, and other factors contribute 80 to 90 percent of public health outcomes.
That is, the conditions in which people live, work, laugh, and suffer influence the ways in which people provide and seek care, heal, and die. Life is polarized activity.
In specific communities -particularly marked by poverty and vulnerability- the need to speak of social spaces of instability and turbulence becomes evident. It is relevant. It’s obvious. And it is clear how we all need to participate in finding solutions through meaning-making actions. It is a must. Its caduced. Ddynamic polarity.
“It is important to say that we are thinking about this. We are measuring it. We are capturing it, we have information about it.”
A participation that cannot, should not, does not have to… consist solely of collecting, practicing and transmitting knowledge about, for example, sanitary, hygienic and preventive measures. Real participation involves much more than that. It’s not just participating. It is becoming a part, even if the divisions are felt, established, prove to be a challenge… Life is polarized.
“A 2019 study found that only 24% of hospitals and 16% of doctors’ offices asked people about things like food insecurity, housing instability, transportation needs, and violence in their personal lives “.
Participation must also include and prioritize the political and social aspects that participation itself implies. polarized activity.
It is not only the lack, the scarcity, the absence of money, resources, opportunities, possibilities and options… what leads to inequities, it is also an inability, a limited possibility, a low probability to participate socially and live a dignified life in which people have control over their circumstances. Life is.
“Addressing social determinants could make a significant difference to health when we consider that poverty, racism, and housing not only correlate with poor outcomes, but can actually cause them. COVID-19 is laying that truth bare, and we it presents an opportunity for policymaking that aggressively targets social determinants, both for getting us out of the pandemic safely and for future health outcomes.” VICE NEWS