Introducing: The Determinants of Her Health

I am so excited to begin this journey with you!Each week, we will examine a different aspect of women’s health with topics ranging from black maternal health to PMDD, chronic pain, purity culture, and more. We’ll chat about specific examples, then zoom out to see the systemic issues driving them. This gives both a bottom-up and top-down look into the structures that determine our health and well-being. Each episode will give you tools and resources to advocate for yourself and the broader community of women working to shape healthcare in America. In this introductory episode, I explain two frameworks that will be utilized throughout this podcast. Reproductive Justice is defined by SisterSong as “the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.”This framework will guide our conversations as we uncover the systems that promote and impede the upholding of justice. Second, the social determinants of health (where our name comes from!) are the framework that examines how non-medical conditions affect our health and wellbeing. These include: Economic Stability, Education Access and Quality, Healthcare Access and Quality, Neighborhood and Built Environment, and Social and Community Context. I also examine my own story, one of loss and hope. Henry Justice Felker (Hank) is my first child. He was stillborn on July 1st, 2020, after his umbilical cord compressed multiple times. Zooming out, there are systemic factors that led to his death, and issues that perpetuate stillbirth in the U.S. Follow on Instagram @determinants.pod and email me [email protected]