Poverty, inequality, early childhood development, housing, social exclusion, racism, sexism and many other social and economic factors have a significant impact on health and health disparities.
Research and extensive experience in countries around the world show that health disparities can be reduced through coordinated and comprehensive public policy and investment that address these social determinants of health.
Policy measures and investments can, for example:
* reduce poverty and inequality
* increase affordable housing
* support early childhood development, and
* reduce the social exclusion of many communities
At the Wellesley Institute, we are especially interested in how social determinants and health inequalities can be address through policy action. See our papers, presentations and blog commentaries listed on this page to learn more.
We provide links to other organizations have a focus on social determinants of health and a selection of key resources on this issue.
Information about specific social determinants of health (for example, housing & homelessness) is available on other Issue pages.
Evidence from around the world shows that enhancing access to high quality comprehensive primary care for disadvantaged people and communities is one of them most important directions for addressing health inequalities. Community health centres are a vital part of this direction in Canada and many other countries, and the recent AOHC conference on Health Equity: Pushing the Boundaries highlighted how to drive this into action on the ground (I spoke on how do this). [...]
There is always a huge amount to be learnt from equity strategy and interventions in other countries. I presented a lecture on health equity strategy in Ontario and Canada to a seminar of public health professors and other leaders in Berlin. [...]
It’s really hard to boil down complex policy and social challenges into snappy and popular language. Here is a recent attempt in an interview I did at the Association of Ontario Health Centres conference.
An interesting recent report from New Zealand highlights the importance of urban environments for population health. Healthy Places, Healthy Lives examines research evidence and sets out a number of case studies that illustrate ways to design cities, towns, neighbourhoods and streets to promote health. [...]
One critical way to drive health equity is by building expectations and requirements into system and performance management. Several LHINs have required their partner service providers to develop health equity plans which identify vulnerable populations and access barriers, detail plans to address those challenges, outline initiatives underway addressing equity in service delivery, and set out priorities for the future. [...]
The World Health Organization created a Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, whose site publishes a wide range of useful information resources. It has mobilized polity research and initiatives around the world, working with many countries including Canada. Its interim report is the subject of intensive discussion in many jurisdictions. The Public Health Agency of Canada and the National Collaborating Centre on the Determinants of Health will be initiating discussion of the implications of the WHO findings and recommended policy directions within Canada. [...]
public policy discourse that focuses only on economic growth and efficiency is too restricted to accommodate SDoH approaches
limited public awareness of the impact of social determinants, and
how to build a case for investment in SDoH
Prevailing themes in the discussions were the importance of comprehensive coordinated polices across social, economic, education, health and other key spheres that address SDoH, the need for governments to develop far better cross-sectoral collaboration and to get beyond departmental and jurisdictional silos, simpler clearer language to promote SDoH, and building on the many community-based initiatives that take broad SDoH approaches.
Presentation to the Conference Board of Canada Roundtable on Social Determinants of Health, by Bob Gardner, Director Public Policy, Wellesley Institute, October, 2006. [...]
This short paper by Bob Gardner (2006) proposes four directions for provincial government policy that would begin to address health inequities and the broad social determinants of health. [...]
