Health equity and sustainability: extending the work of the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health

Abstract

The final report of the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health presents opportunities to promote synergies between health equity and action on sustainability, including reducing global warming. The report makes important recommendations for political and economic reform, but stops short of calling for major change to the conventional neo-liberal model of economic development and growth. Yet the challenge of global warming appears to make growth according to this model unfeasible. In this article, we explore opportunities in the work of the Commission for combining goals of health equity and sustainability, and discuss ideas for economic reforms which further challenge the dominant model, and seek to accommodate the imperatives of reversing climate change.

Keywords:

• social determinants
• health equity
• climate change
• economics

Acknowledgements

The writing and research for this article was supported by the Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship grant FF0883216 and the South Australian Premier's Science and Research Fund. FB was a Commissioner on the CSDH.