Program goal
The Goal of the Social Determinants of Health Program is to
“Develop a detailed understanding of the social determinants
of Aboriginal health and of the interventions that are effective in
improving health status through action on social
determinants”.
Program overview
Social determinants of health are the economic, physical and social
conditions that influence the health of individuals, communities
and jurisdictions as a whole. They include housing, education,
social networks and connections, physical infrastructure,
connection with land, racism, employment, and law enforcement and
the legal and custodial system.
More information can be found about the program in the Program statement [pdf] and the Social Determinants of Health Brochure
[pdf].
Research priorities
A workshop (workshop report [pdf]) in July 2004 and an
industry
roundtable in June 2006 have contributed to the development of
this Program. At the roundtable, group discussions explored
potential partnerships and/or activities in areas including:
- building awareness of the social determinants of Aboriginal
health;
- racism and the impact on health outcomes;
- housing and the physical environment;
- education, employment and childhood.
It was also identified that further discussion was needed in
three areas not sufficiently represented at the roundtable:
- education;
- law and justice;
- culture and land.
Program Activities:
The
Commission
on the Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) - International
Symposium on Indigenous Health – 29-30 April 2007,
Adelaide. This international
symposium was hosted by the CRCAH as one of the main
activities of the Social determinants of Health Program for
2007.
The papers presented at the Social Determinants of Health
Workshop in July 2004 were written up in Beyond Bandaids: Exploring the
Underlying Social Determinants of Aboriginal Health
(2007).
Prison
health roundtable, held at AIATSIS, Canberra on 28 November
2007.
Social Determinants of Indigenous Health textbook
(2007) - see project
summary, CRCAH media release. Further information is available
from Allen & Unwin. This was an in-kind
project (SD128).
Fullbright Symposium: Healthy People,
Prosperous Country, held on 10-11 July 2008 in Adelaide.
Co-hosted by CRCAH and Flinders University.
Details about activities in the Social Determinants Program can
also be found in the CRCAH newsletter, Gwalwa-gai.
Useful links
Fulbright Symposium
Australia 2008 Website + Speakers Presentations.
Richard Wilkinson and Michael Marmot (eds).
2003. Social determinants of health: the solid facts. 2nd Edition,
WHO: copenhagen - http://www.euro.who.int/document/e81384.pdf
World Health Organisation (WHO) Commission on the Social
Determinants of Health (CSDH) - http://www.who.int/social_determinants/en/
Developing a Canadian Economic Case for Financing the Social
Determinants of Health. David Hay, March 2008, Canadian
Policy Research Networks Inc (CPRN) - http://www.cprn.org/documents/49485_EN.pdf
The Pan American Health Organisation of the World Health
Organisation (PAHO/WHO) has an excellent Equity, Health and Human
Development Listserver which has a wealth of recent international
publications on the social determinants of health. See the Listserv
archives at http://listserv.paho.org/archives/equidad.html
Download a copy of the:
Page last updated 23.11.2009
