The Commission on the Social Determinants of Health: reinventing health promotion for the twenty-first century?

Abstract

This paper describes the work of the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, established by WHO in 2005 and considers the potential for this Commission to contribute to a reinvention of health promotion for the twenty-first century. It argues that the Commission can do this by reinforcing the move that health promotion has been making since the 1980s to be less concerned with behaviour change and more concerned with creating the conditions in which health and well-being flourish. Specific contributions the Commission will make are: providing a vision of the moral importance and feasibility of a more equitable world; positioning health promotion as a task for the whole of the economy through action within the government sector and through assessment of the health equity impact of the corporate sector and neo-liberalism; through its Knowledge Networks, providing a much stronger evidence base than has previously been available on the social determinants of health and health equity including the actions and policies that are most likely to promote health and equity; providing a focus for the further growth of a global social movement advocating for health equity within and between countries; contributing to the reform of WHO and other international health agencies so that all programmes are built to take comprehensive action in communities and nationally to tackle the underlying causes of disease; adding legitimacy to moves to re-orientate health care systems to a focus on health promotion and population health.

Keywords:

• Health promotion
• socio-economic
• population health

Notes

Note

1. For final reports from the Commission's Knowledge Networks see the CSDH website at http://www.who.int/social_determinants/en/