Closing the Gap in a Generation

Health Equity through Action on the Social Determinants of Health

Final Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health
Paperback
October 2008
9789241563703
More details
  • Publisher
    World Health Organization
  • Published
    27th October 2008
  • ISBN 9789241563703
  • Language English
  • Pages 250 pp.
  • Size 8.5" x 11"
$48.00

The Final Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health sets out key areas–of daily living conditions and of the underlying structural drivers that influence them–in which action is needed. It provides analysis of social determinants of health and concrete examples of actions that have proven effective in improving health and health equity in countries at all levels of socioeconomic development.

Part 1 lays out the rationale for a global movement to advance health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Part 2 outlines the approach the Commission took to evidence, and to the indispensable value of acknowledging and using the rich diversity of different types of knowledge. Parts 3, 4, and 5 set out in more detail the Commission’s findings and recommendations. Part 6, finally, reprises the global networks–the regional connections to civil society worldwide, the growing caucus of country partners taking the social determinants of health agenda forward, the vital research agendas, and the opportunities for change at the level of global governance and global institutions–that the Commission has built and on which the future of a global movement for health equity will depend.

1) Setting the scene for a global approach to health equity; 2) Evidence, action, actors; 3) Daily living conditions; 4) Power, money and resources; 5) Knowledge, monitoring and skills: the backbone of action; 6) Building a global movement

World Health Organization

World Health Organization is a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, charged to act as the world's directing and coordinating authority on questions of human health. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries, and monitoring and assessing health trends.