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Improving living conditions, reducing income disparities, and measuring the effects of specific steps to reduce inequities in health care all are necessary to eliminate the effects that deprivation has on global public health, the World Health Organization said in a report.
The WHO report on social determinants of health called for better education, particularly in early childhood; improvements in workplace conditions and full and fair employment; urban and rural development that increases affordable housing and improves sanitation; development of social programs, including health care programs; and reduction in disparities in wealth and power.
Measurement of both the problems and how well any solutions worked is necessary to reduce the disparities and would include goal setting on health equity, using health-equity surveillance systems in member states and impact-assessment tools, as well as convening a global meeting periodically to assess progress.
Wealth and economic development are not solutions, WHO officials said, pointing to sharp disparities in life expectancy in a relatively high-income city like Glasgow, Scotland, even as relatively low-income countries like Sri Lanka have narrowed health inequities.
“Central to the commission's recommendations is creating the conditions for people to be empowered, to have freedom to lead flourishing lives,” said Sir Michael Marmot, a professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, and chair of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, which prepared the report.
“Nowhere is lack of empowerment more obvious than in the plight of women in many parts of the world,” Dr. Marmot said in a written statement. “Health suffers as a result. Following our recommendations would dramatically improve the health and life chances of billions of people.”
Improving living conditions, reducing income disparities, and measuring the effects of specific steps to reduce inequities in health care all are necessary to eliminate the effects that deprivation has on global public health, the World Health Organization said in a report.
The WHO report on social determinants of health called for better education, particularly in early childhood; improvements in workplace conditions and full and fair employment; urban and rural development that increases affordable housing and improves sanitation; development of social programs, including health care programs; and reduction in disparities in wealth and power.
Measurement of both the problems and how well any solutions worked is necessary to reduce the disparities and would include goal setting on health equity, using health-equity surveillance systems in member states and impact-assessment tools, as well as convening a global meeting periodically to assess progress.
Wealth and economic development are not solutions, WHO officials said, pointing to sharp disparities in life expectancy in a relatively high-income city like Glasgow, Scotland, even as relatively low-income countries like Sri Lanka have narrowed health inequities.
“Central to the commission's recommendations is creating the conditions for people to be empowered, to have freedom to lead flourishing lives,” said Sir Michael Marmot, a professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, and chair of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, which prepared the report.
“Nowhere is lack of empowerment more obvious than in the plight of women in many parts of the world,” Dr. Marmot said in a written statement. “Health suffers as a result. Following our recommendations would dramatically improve the health and life chances of billions of people.”
Improving living conditions, reducing income disparities, and measuring the effects of specific steps to reduce inequities in health care all are necessary to eliminate the effects that deprivation has on global public health, the World Health Organization said in a report.
The WHO report on social determinants of health called for better education, particularly in early childhood; improvements in workplace conditions and full and fair employment; urban and rural development that increases affordable housing and improves sanitation; development of social programs, including health care programs; and reduction in disparities in wealth and power.
Measurement of both the problems and how well any solutions worked is necessary to reduce the disparities and would include goal setting on health equity, using health-equity surveillance systems in member states and impact-assessment tools, as well as convening a global meeting periodically to assess progress.
Wealth and economic development are not solutions, WHO officials said, pointing to sharp disparities in life expectancy in a relatively high-income city like Glasgow, Scotland, even as relatively low-income countries like Sri Lanka have narrowed health inequities.
“Central to the commission's recommendations is creating the conditions for people to be empowered, to have freedom to lead flourishing lives,” said Sir Michael Marmot, a professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, and chair of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, which prepared the report.
“Nowhere is lack of empowerment more obvious than in the plight of women in many parts of the world,” Dr. Marmot said in a written statement. “Health suffers as a result. Following our recommendations would dramatically improve the health and life chances of billions of people.”