Publications - country action

Health equity at the country level: building capacities and momentum for action

Country Work engaged the ‘how-to’ challenges countries face in turning evidence on social determinants of health into policies. This report describes how the Country Work was organized; how countries joined the process and how their efforts progressed; how success in the Country Work is being measured; the major questions and challenges Country Partners have faced; and the learning that has resulted. The concluding sections of the report outline a plan for sustaining the momentum that has been achieved through CSDH Country Partner action.

• Health equity at the country level: building capacities and momentum for action
  pdf, 1.62Mb

Moving forward on the health equity agenda at the country level

• Moving forward on the health equity agenda at the country level
  pdf, 441kb

Health equity through intersectoral action: An analysis of 18 country case studies

This paper, part of a joint multi-phase initiative of PHAC and the Secretariat to the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, provides an analysis of key learnings from those 18 case studies. The case studies analyzed here represent a broad array of initiatives that ranged from relatively small-scale programs that used a community development approach with a marginalized group in one city, to broad, policy-focused initiatives from national governments. Socio-political, economic and cultural contexts are important in each of the case studies reviewed, creating the landscape within which intersectoral action was initiated and carried out.

• English
  pdf, 1.94Mb
• Français
  pdf, 2.06Mb
• Español
  pdf, 2.09Mb

• The Commission on Social Determinants of Health: tackling the social roots of health inequities
  Irwin A, Valentine N, Brown C, Loewenson R, Solar O, et al. PLoS Med 3(6), June 2006.
• Country Partners Consultation held in Geneva in May 2006 - meeting report
  pdf, 2.55Mb
  The First Meeting of Country Partners: WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health Executive, Draft August 2006.
• African Civil Society regional meeting - meeting report
  pdf, 166kb
  African Civil Society (CS) regional meeting to develop a strategy of work with WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH). 10 – 11 January 2006. Nairobi, Kenya.
• Strategy for the CSDH country stream of work
  pdf, 131kb
  To promote, demonstrate and bridge knowledge to policy and implementation in order to address socially determined health inequities.
• Chile - Iran Exchange report
  pdf, 472kb
  This report summarizes the visit of an Iranian delegation to Chile to learn from Chile's experiences on implementing a social determinants approach to tackling health inequities in health systems and across sectors.
• Health inequalities: Europe in profile
  pdf, 1.14Mb
  Report written at the request of UK Presidency of EU, and aims to review the evidence on the existence of socio-economic inequalities in health in European countries, including Sweden.
• Tackling health inequalities: new approaches in public health
  A multisectoral approach to policy design and implementation is urgently needed to confront disease burdens in developing countries. Jeanette Vega, Alec Irwin, WHO Bulletin, 82 (7), July 2004.
• Tackling health inequalities since the Acheson inquiry
  Michael Marmot, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 58:262-263, 2004.
• Creating healthier societies
  The solid facts summarizing social determinants of health. Michael Marmot, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 82 (5), May 2004.
• Tackling social determinants of health through community based initiatives
  BMJ analysis and comment on gender and health; basic development needs programmes; effect of basic development needs programmes; challenges and opportunities; sustaining community based initiatives. Assai M, Siddiqi S, Watts S. BMJ 2006;333:854-856. October.
• Public health is a social issue
  pdf, 42kb
  Comment on social causes of health and disease, links between poverty and health system: LEE Jong-wook, WHO Director-General, The Lancet, vol 365, March 2005.