Social Determinants of Health, Report of a Regional Consultation

Overview

Dramatic inequalities in health and healthcare exist worldwide. These inequalities are sharper in the developing world, including countries in the WHO’s South-East Asia Region. There is concern about the double burden of disease faced by Member countries in the South-East Asia Region along with new health threats from avian influenza, climate change and natural disasters. A majority of health inequalities between and within countries are avoidable and, hence inequitable. There is a need to examine the embedded societal causes to understand the basic causes of the diseases and unhealthy behaviours. Disaggregating the prevailing morbidity and mortality patterns across the countries exhibits the social gradients for health outcomes and in the use of health systems. Member countries in the Region are not much different in this kind of social patterning of health. Technical solutions are not enough to tackle the growing disease burden. Realizing this hiatus, WHO established the Commission on Social Determinants of Health in 2005 to study this issue thoroughly through intensive campaigns, consultations, and by establishing knowledge networks to generate evidence from related good practices.