WHO: Equity, social determinants and public health programmes

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently released a new book entitled Equity, social determinants and public health programmes, which analyzes the impact of social determinants on specific health conditions. The publication follows the report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health, issued in September 2008, which challenged conventional public health thinking and identified inequal health situations within and between countries as a result of differences in income levels, opportunities, health status, life expectancy and access to care. According to WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, in her foreword to the new book, the Commission’s report showed how social factors directly shape health outcomes and explain inequities, and consequently challenge health programmes and policies. She also notes that this new publication, Equity, social determinants and public health programmes, takes these challenges several steps forward, with the aim of translating knowledge into concrete, workable actions.

The new publication warns that old public health problems, such as malaria, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases, persist “because we have failed to effectively apply the tools that we have at hand,” and because “we have not sufficiently recognized and appropriately dealt with the inequities underlying average health statistics.” As a result large parts of populations, and even whole regions of the world, have been left behind, even if general progress has been made.

Yet, new challenges have arised as well, in particular in the areas of communicable, maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions, noncommunicable conditions or injuries. These challenges are “directly related to how we organize our societies and live our lives, with inequities among and within populations again standing out.” Therefore, it is time to go far beyond the traditional health interventions and address both the old and the new challenges and to achieve global targets, such as the health-related Millennium Development Goals, the publication stresses.

It presents interventions to improve health equity for: alcohol-related disorders, cardiovascular diseases, child health and nutrition, diabetes, food safety, maternal health, mental health, neglected tropical diseases, oral health, pregnancy outcomes, tobacco and health, tuberculosis, and violence and injuries.

More information is available online.

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