Health inequalities, social determinants and public health policy

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Graham
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Public Health Policy

scholarly journals The Swedish national public health policy and its achievements after ten years

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
N Lindqvist
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Health Work ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
National Public Health ◽  
The Government

Abstract Public health issues and their equality aspects have been on the political agenda in Sweden since the early 1980s. Already in the 1990s, the Government presented the first public health policy bill. This highlighted the conditions for a sustainable development from a public health perspective. Increased equality was set to be the overriding objective in prioritizing public health work and that priority should be given to efforts that would improve the situation of the most disadvantaged. The foundation of today’s public health policy was laid in 2003 when the parliament decided on a new bill in which an overall goal for national public health policy was established: ‘Creating social conditions for good health on equal terms for the entire population’. The bill also established a cross-sectoral target structure for the overall public health work with eleven target areas. It also pointed out that public health policy is cross-sectoral and must be a part in all policy areas. In June 2008, the parliament adopted the bill A Renewed Public Health Policy. Changes made were (among other things) a rewording of the target areas, but many of the starting points were kept. The Swedish Commission for Equity in Health was set up in 2015 and given two main tasks, to produce a proposal that can help to reduce the health inequalities in society and to work for raised awareness of health inequalities in society and among stakeholders. The work of the commission was finished in 2017 and presents an analysis of how the public health policy works in practice, with regard to the intentions of policy framework. A number of problems or areas of development appear which the Commission considers need to be addressed. The presentation will first give a short overview of the Swedish public health policy from 2008 and will then present the commission’s conclusions and proposals for development areas.

scholarly journals Addressing the social determinants of health at the local level: Opportunities and challenges

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (20_suppl) ◽  
pp. 47-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Fosse ◽  
M.K. Helgesen ◽  
S. Hagen ◽  
S. Torp
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Social Gradient ◽  
New Public Health ◽  
The Social

Aims: The gradient in health inequalities reflects a relationship between health and social circumstance, demonstrating that health worsens as you move down the socio-economic scale. For more than a decade, the Norwegian National government has developed policies to reduce social inequalities in health by levelling the social gradient. The adoption of the Public Health Act in 2012 was a further movement towards a comprehensive policy. The main aim of the act is to reduce social health inequalities by adopting a Health in All Policies approach. The municipalities are regarded key in the implementation of the act. The SODEMIFA project aimed to study the development of the new public health policy, with a particular emphasis on its implementation in municipalities. Methods: In the SODEMIFA project, a mixed-methods approach was applied, and the data consisted of surveys as well as qualitative interviews. The informants were policymakers at the national and local level. Results: Our findings indicate that the municipalities had a rather vague understanding of the concept of health inequalities, and even more so, the concept of the social gradient in health. The most common understanding was that policy to reduce social inequalities concerned disadvantaged groups. Accordingly, policies and measures would be directed at these groups, rather than addressing the social gradient. Conclusions: A movement towards an increased understanding and adoption of the new, comprehensive public health policy was observed. However, to continue this process, both local and national levels must stay committed to the principles of the act.

scholarly journals The Role of Social Determinants in Mental Health and Resilience After Disasters: Implications for Public Health Policy and Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanying Mao ◽  
Vincent I. O. Agyapong
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Childhood Abuse ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Health Policy And Practice

In this general literature review, we will explore the impacts and contribution of social determinants to mental health and resiliency following both natural and man-made disasters. Natural disasters, such as wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes, as well as man-made disasters, such as civil wars, have been known to inflict significant damage to the mental health of the victims. In this paper, we mainly explore some most studied vulnerability and protective social determinant factors such as gender, age, ethnicity, socials support and socioeconomic status for the mental health and resiliency in survivors of such disasters. Several other possible factors such as previous trauma, childhood abuse, family psychiatric history, and subsequent life stress that were explored by some studies were also discussed. We conducted a literature search in major scientific databases, using keywords such as: mental health, social determinants, disasters, wildfires, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, and resilience. We discuss the implications for public health policy and practice.

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