The Occupy Wall Street Movement has opened up many opportunities to make clear the links between economic inequalities and inequalities in health. However, conversations and actions so far have largely focused on issues of access to healthcare, medical debt, cuts to healthcare budgets, and the pitfalls of for-profit medical systems. Join Healthy Policies for a Twitter chat on how SDOH messages can be better integrated into occupying efforts.

Growing commentary has covered much ground on the causes, faults, and promise of the Occupy Wall St. movement. However, a stone that has yet to be overturned is the one that should have public health professionals, as well as anyone who cares about the health of their community, taking to the streets.

The notion that health is influenced by society, and the politics governing it, has been around for generations. The contemporary uptake of this idea can be found in the increasingly popular concept of ‘social determinants of health’. But should all social determinants be treated with equal concern? Or are certain determinants more important than others in influencing the health of populations?

Taking root in Wisconsin, the union battles that are sweeping across the Midwest are about more than pay, benefits and collective bargaining. Attacks on the rights of workers are also an attack on America’s health.

By recognizing that health lies outside the medical system, US public health professionals acknowledge that health should no longer be defined as the responsibility of doctors. By accepting that health is amenable to political interventions, they should therefore also accept that its promotion becomes the responsibility of political actors.

On Monday, NPR’s On Point Radio was meant to host a show discussing how “inequality hurts societies”. The show was postponed however, in order to provide immediate coverage of the Tucson shooting incident. Ironically, a conversation about inequalities in societies could have brought some new perspective to the already redundant media commentaries which name violent political rhetoric, gun law, or the assassin’s mental health as sources of the tragedy.

Inspired by the Spirit Level, two UK graduates cycle tour Sweden to find out what life is like in a more equal country. Through a series of video interviews the adventurists explore the ways in which the UK can learn from the Swedes. Excited about this project, I couldn’t help contacting Steven, recently returned from Sweden, for an interview.

Can collaboration with civil society organizations encourage action on the SDOH at the policy level? Just Health Action (JHA), a non-profit organization based in Seattle, Washington gives me hope.

In the absence of a US health equity commission, how about a return to Roosevelt’s remedy for an ailing nation— FDR’s Second Bill of Rights would guarantee: The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation; The right to earn enough to provide adequate [...]

Tune in Thursday July 29 at 2 pm Eastern Daylight Saving Time for a webinar presented by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation titled “A new way to talk about the social determinants of health”. For more information and to register go here.