Introduction
The health of an individual and that of an entire population are products of both their actions and the surrounding environment. The surrounding environment, in this case, is the society and the related factors. In healthcare, these factors are sometimes referred to as the social determinants of health. According to Raphael (2014, pp.380-396) and Brassolotto, Raphael and Baldeo (2013, pp.321-336), social determinants of health include all the social and economic conditions that not only influence the health status of an individual, but also that of a group of people. Examples of the social determinants of health include wealth, power, distribution of income, and influence. The distribution of the social determinants of health depends on public policies shaped by the influence of the reigning political ideologies and nature of power. In particular, power has the greatest influence on the social determinants of health. The influence can be negative or positive depending on the prevailing political ideologies. Even so, one way of raising the cognizance of people concerning their health is through community empowerment. The Ottawa Charter 1986 considers community empowerment as the focal point of health promotion (WHO 1986). The Charter also defines health promotion as a means of facilitating the control of people over their health and increasing their awareness on the means of health improvement (World Health Organization 1978, p.2). The community empowerment strategies, especially those applied to health promotion, are considered diverse and engaging while creating awareness, influencing social policy, and enhancing health information provision to people. This moves away from the traditional community empowerment practice that revolved around education and protection activities (Tengland 2012, pp.140-153). The following discussion seeks to demonstrate how community empowerment changes power. I argue that community empowerment shifts the equilibrium of power towards the members of a community, thus, giving power to the ‘powerless’ through the allocation of resources with a view to turning the social determinants of health (SDOH) in favour of the community.
Characteristics of Community Empowerment that Addresses the SDOH