Health Affairs

Health Affairs, 27, no. 2 (2008): 320 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.27.2.320 © 2008 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

This Article Full Text (HTML) Reprint (PDF) Submit a response to this article Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Comments are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services E-mail this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My Personal Archive Download to Citation Manager Reprints & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Related Collections Access To Care Minority Health Consumer Issues Determinants Of Health

Social Determinants

PROLOGUE

The Social Determinants Of Health

The Lalonde report of 1974 (issued by then Canadian minister of national health and welfare Marc Lalonde) popularized the idea that direct medical care might be but a bit player in producing health and reducing mortality. That report highlighted the fact that other factors—biology, environment, lifestyle—figure more prominently than medical care in producing health. The report also noted a striking disparity between this finding and the shares of income devoted to various determinants of health. Indeed, although estimates of the effect of improved medical care on reductions in mortality hover around 10–15 percent, public policy and investment in this country . . . [Full Text of this Article]

                      What's this?