ABSTRACT
Global health has grown in prominence in international diplomacy, with increasing recognition that health is inseparable from development, security and social justice (Labonté and Gagnon 2010; Kickbusch 2011). The worldwide distribution of health and illness is characterized by inequities, both between countries and within countries (Commission on Social Determinants of Health 2008). Any attempt to improve global health must then take steps to address health inequities, and actions must be guided by an understanding of the root causes of health inequities. These root causes are widely understood as the social determinants of health (SDH) and broadly described by the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) as the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, and the structural drivers of those conditions, the distribution of power, money and resources. ‘Social determinants’ therefore encompasses political, social, economic, cultural and environmental influences on health. In this chapter, we examine the rise of SDH as a policy approach to global public health; we outline the findings and influence of the CSDH; and we explore prospects and uncertainties in taking forward the social determinants of health agenda.
