The cycle!

Vulnerable populations need to be the most deserving populations in order to intercept the cycle of poverty, health, and economy. As so many have said, as health professionals we need to give without question. We need to continue to attempt to eliminate the disparities until the rest of the world sees the relevance of health to success and development. As health professionals, we cannot settle the way politicians can thinking that health conditions are self-inflicted. It is our job to understand the social determinants of health, in order to understand the situation of vulnerable populations. A great example of this lies in tobacco use. At one point (and still in some ways today), tobacco related health problems were seen as self-inflicted. This change largely when tobacco companies were sued for knowingly promoting harmful products. Policymakers now understand the need to protect populations from the control of tobacco companies.  This example needs to be asserted across all social determinants of health!