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?

In this guest post, Ted Schrecker offers a commentary on how the 2011 World Conference on Social Determinants of Health might restore an otherwise ailing SDOH agenda. Ted is an associate Professor in the University of Ottawa’s Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, and a principal scientist at the University’s Institute of Population Health.

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 [...]

A couple of weeks ago, Obama was featured on the front page of the New York Times, laughing in an Iowa bookstore while holding up a copy of  Mitt Romney’s book, ‘No Apology’ and Karl Rove’s book, ‘Courage and Consequence’. On tour celebrating the passage of health care reform legislation, he joked that’d he’d wait [...]

Two major health inequality reports were recently released, one in the UK and the other in the US. This is the final post in a series which seeks to better understand the health perspective of these reports. Understanding variations in how health inequality research is pursued is important because health perspectives can undermine attention to the broader determinants of health inequalities and hinder the development of healthy public policies. While the true policy implications of the reports remain to be seen, the difference in health perspectives of the two reports is astounding.

A coalition of campaigners in Britain have joined forces in support of what they’ve cleverly labeled The Robin Hood Tax. While the campaign has already generated a huge amount of online activism, some 350 economists from all over the world are calling upon world leaders to support the Robin Hood Tax. We need to support these efforts here in the US.

While Congress and popular media outlets struggle to recover from their tizzy over bipartisan health care reform, 1.2 million Americans lost their unemployment benefits Sunday. And all thanks to a single-handed effort by Republican Sen Jim Bunning of Kentucky.

A major report published last week arms the UK with an evidence-based strategy for reducing health inequalities over the next 10 years. Commissioned by the government, the report, Fair Society, Healthy Lives, outlines six essential policy objectives.