Abstract
Purpose: Social Determinants of Health (SDH), including economic, social, political, and environmental factors, affect people's health. Wider cooperation among different sectors of society is necessary to solve health issues. We conducted a review of SDH studies, presented at the 21st IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion 2013, with the purpose of introducing the latest trend of SDH studies to the readers.
Methods: We searched the conference abstract database with a keyword of “social determinant” in their study titles, and identified 27 studies. We introduced the essence of each study, based on their abstract.
Results: The 27 studies included 17 studies from five countries in Asia, five studies from the Americas, four studies from Europe, and one study from Australia. For examples, in Thailand, they organized community health team leaders consisting of hospital, local administration, and community representatives. In Canada, they had consecutive workshops among public health workers, physicians, epidemiologists and researchers. In France and the Netherlands, they repeatedly encouraged decision-makers to change public policies, sometimes by showing alternative options.
Conclusion: Options for SDH intervention included dialogue among people from different backgrounds and continued efforts to encourage decision-makers to become more aware of SDH. The importance of accumulated experience and evidence was also emphasized.
