Article by Tabitha Groh | March 21, 2025
UDAILY: Making Waves in Health
Check out this recent UDaily article, written about the SHIP! This article sheds light on how the UD partnership and the SHIP Coalition aims to improve the health of Delawareans.
The Vital Conditions
What are the Vital Conditions?
Understanding why some communities prosper while others face significant challenges is essential for creating a more equitable future. The Vital Conditions for Health and Well-Being framework provides a clear and actionable way to explore this issue.
Vital conditions are the essential elements that every individual needs to reach their full potential. These include physical necessities like access to nutritious food, clean water, and safe housing. They also encompass social determinants such as quality education, stable employment, and financial security. Additionally, a sense of belonging through strong community ties and social support networks, as well as agency and empowerment—the ability to make choices and influence one’s environment—are critical. Finally, civic engagement ensures that all voices are heard in decision-making processes.
Investing in these vital conditions is crucial for fostering a thriving and equitable society. By addressing both immediate needs and long-term structural issues, we can help bridge the gaps that lead to disparities. Together, we can create a future where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, leading to healthier and more equitable communities for all.
Delaware SHIP Priorities (October 2023)
Chronic Disease
Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the US and in Delaware. SHIP recommendations are related to system-wide, policy change that address the social determinants of health.
Health in All Policies
Health in All Policies is a collaborative approach to improving the health of all people by incorporating health considerations into decision-making across sectors and policy areas. Delaware SHIP considers Health in All Policies as part of the comprehensive approach to improve health and well-being.
Maternal & Child Health
Maternal & Child Health
Despite major advances in clinical care, critical threats to maternal, infant, and child health exist in the US and in Delaware specifically. SHIP recommends prioritizing improvements in teen pregnancy, premature births, and low birth weight infants; as well as additional education on maternal and child health topics, reducing the cost of care, and increasing access to preventative services.
Mental Health
Maternal & Child Health
Stakeholders have ranked mental health the fourth for the top five most important public health issues being faced. The 2017 Delaware State Assessment Needs reported that 17% of Delawareans have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder. SHIP prioritizes improving access to behavioral and mental health services.
Social Determinants of Health
Social determinants of health are conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. The PSE approach addresses these social determinants.
Social Marketing
Social marketing is an excellent tool for promoting public health activities. Social media can be used to understand and address what people believe and need to know and do to change a specific behavior. Social marketing can be part of a comprehensive approach to prevent disease, improve health, or gain public support for change for the good of individuals or the community.
Substance Use Disorder
Substance Use Disorder
Substance Use Disorder
The 2017 Delaware State Health Needs Assessment reported that 1 in 10 Delawareans has struggled with a substance abuse issue at some point in their life. SHIP works to reduce tobacco and tobacco-substitute use as well as reduce substance use.
Together for our Health
The purpose of a SHIP is to “describe how the health department and the community it serves will work together to improve the health of the population." - The National Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB)
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