Health Affairs

Health Affairs, 28, no. 2 (2009): w194-w198 (Published online 16 January 2009) doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.2.w194 © 2009 by Project HOPE	New Online   Getting Health Reform Done   After the State of the Union   Incremental Reform   E-Health in Developing World   Most-Read Articles in 2009

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Don’t Forget About The Social Determinants Of Health

Gail R. Wilensky and David Satcher

The Obama administration faces daunting challenges to reform health care. The authors, commissioners on the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, believe that strategies to improve health by affecting the social determinants may gain bipartisan support. These determinants—including the effects of poverty, education, the treatment of women, employment opportunities, and limited access to medical care for some—are as important in promoting health, if not more so, than the direct medical determinants of health. Focusing on these determinants makes more sense than waiting until people become sick and seek care, and it often costs much less.

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				M. G. Marmot and R. Bell Action on Health Disparities in the United States: Commission on Social Determinants of Health JAMA, March 18, 2009; 301(11): 1169 - 1171. [Full Text] [PDF]