ZEES NOTES: SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

Robin Bell, 4 March 2015

(1) Social determinants of health
What

is it?
Causes behind the causes (upstream stuff)
Community-based, public health centric
Social determinants of health shows us that health promotion
is actually an issue of social justice

Key social determinants

Health system
External environment where people work live and interact
Localstatenationalglobal levels
Main determinants
o Agriculture, food production
o Education
o Work environment
o Living/working conditions
o Unemployment
o Water sanitation
o Healthcare services
o Housing
o Indicators of health
Maternal mortality,
Unemployment
Infant mortality
Childhood development
(2) Health promotion
What is it?
The process of enabling people to increase control over and
thus improve their health
Aimed at improving equity (Everyone reaches the same level
of healthcare)
o Remember equality = everyone gets equal healthcare
coverage
Involves taxation, organisational change, legislations