Monday, November 5, 2007

[EQ] Our cities, our health, our future: Acting on social determinants for health equity in urban settings

Our cities, our health, our future: Acting on social determinants for health equity in urban settings

 

Chair and Lead Writer: Tord Kjellstrom

Report of the Knowledge Network on Urban Settings, WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health

Prepared by the WHO Centre for Health Development, Kobe, Japan - 2007

 

Available online as PDf file [70p.] at: http://www.who.int/social_determinants/resources/knus_report_16jul07.pdf

 

“…..A conceptual framework for urban health was suggested by Vlahov et al. (2006, 2007) and was adapted for the report (Figure 4). The core concept is that the social and physical environments that define the urban context are shaped by multiple factors and multiple players at multiple levels. Global trends, national and local governments, civil society, markets and the private sector shape the context in which local factors operate. Governance interventions in the urban setting must consider national and municipal determinants and should strive to influence both the urban living and working environments as well as intermediary  processes that include social process and health knowledge.

 

The framework assumes that the urban environment in its broadest sense (physical, social, economic, and political) affects all strata of residents, either directly or indirectly. It should be pointed out that interventions can also influence the key global, national and municipal drivers. The health sector has an important role to play, for instance via the “healthy cities” approach….”

 

 

Table of contents

Political briefing

Executive summary

1. Introduction

2. Urbanization and the urban setting as health determinants

2.1. Urbanization in a global context

2.2. Slum formation with rapid urbanization

2.3. A conceptual framework for urban health

2.4. The economics of urban health development

2.5. Poverty, deprived urban living conditions and health vulnerability

2.6. Healthy urban governance

3. The urban health situation

4. Key issues and challenges in achieving health equity

4.1. Environmental health threats in the home and neighbourhood

4.2. Environmental health threats in the wider urban area

4.3. Health threats at work

4.4. Urban health impacts of global resource depletion and environmental change

4.5. Health care systems and emergency services

4.6. Gender and women’s health equity issues

4.7. Other vulnerable groups

5. A broad spectrum of interventions

5.1. Building trust, social capital and social cohesion

5.2. A range of specific interventions

5.3. Interventions via primary health care

5.4. Conditional cash transfers: global social welfare support

5.5. Healthy settings and healthy cities approaches to interventions

5.6. Urban development planning and investment to avoid new slum formation

5.7. Good governance bringing together all interventions

6. Approaches and policies to make interventions happen

6.1. Toward an integrated approach to reducing health inequity

6.2. Health, a rallying point for achieving improved life quality

6.3. Microfinance and local investment

6.4. The global investments required for health equity

6.5. A fairer distribution of resources for health

7. Conclusions and recommendations

References

 

Drafting Team: Susan Mercado, David Sattherthwaite, Gordon McGranahan, Sharon Friel and Kirsten Havemann

Contributing writers: Françoise Barten, Jaimie Bartram, Daniel Becker, Cate Burns, Scott Burris, Waleska T. Caiaffa, Alana Campbell, Tim Campbell, Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, Rachel Carlisle, Carlos Corvalan, Annette M. David, Jorge Jimenez Jane Dixon, Kai Hong Phua, Kelly Donati, Katia Edmundo, Nick Freudenberg, Sharon Friel, Sandro Galea, Fiona Gore, Wei Ha, Trevor Hancock, Ana Hardoy, Andre Herzog, Philippa Howden-Chapman, Andrew Kiyu, Albert Lee, Josef Leitmann, Vivian Lin, Gordon McGranahan, Helia Molina Milman, Diana Mitlin, Frederick Mugisha, Catherine Mulholland, Kaoru Nabeshima, Danielle Ompad, Abiud M. Omwega, Giok Ling Ooi Sheela Patel, Pat Pridmore, Fernando Proietti, Eva Rehfuess, Jaime Sapag, David Sattherthwaite, Shaaban Sheuya, Ruth Stern, Liz Thomas, David Vlahov, Lisa Wood, Shahid Yusuf

 

 

 

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ IKM Area] 

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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[EQ] Employment Conditions and Health Inequalities

Employment Conditions and Health Inequalities

 

Employment Conditions Knowledge Network (EMCONET) Final Report, 20 September 2007

World Health Organization - Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, 2007

 

Joan Benach, Carles Muntaner, Vilma Santana (Chairs)

Health Inequalities Research Group, Occupational Health Research Unit, Dept. Experimental Sciences and Health

Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Social Equity and Health Section, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Institute of Institute of Collective Health, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

 

Available online as PDf file [172p.] at: http://www.who.int/social_determinants/resources/articles/emconet_who_report.pdf

 

“……The aim of this Report is to provide a rigorous analysis on how employment relations affect different population groups, and how this knowledge may help identify and promote worldwide effective policies and institutional changes to reduce health inequalities derived from these employment relations.

 

Consequently, the report incorporates the political, cultural, and economic context to provide a comprehensive account of the current international situation of labour markets and types of employment conditions. How inequalities in health are understood and approached by any society is a political issue. They can be accepted as the inevitable result of individual differences in genetic determinants, individual behaviours, or market transactions, or they can be seen as an avoidable outcome that needs to be remedied. Inequalities in health derived from employment are closely linked to other kinds of social inequalities including inequalities in wealth, political participation, and education. Thus, through regulating employment relations, main political actors can not only redistribute resources affecting social stratification, but also have an impact on the life experiences of different social groups including opportunities for well-being, exposure to hazards leading to disease, and access to health care.

 

Although there is abundant literature on specific employment and working conditions and health, the literature rarely focuses directly on the important role played

by employment relations and conditions as a key social determinant in shaping health inequalities. This report is a contribution toward filling these gaps in knowledge, hoping that a better understanding of these mechanisms will facilitate the task of making wellinformed political decisions over such a crucial issue.

 

Employment relations, employment conditions and working conditions are different yet interrelated concepts. The first concept constitutes the relationship between an employer that hires workers who perform labour to sell a profitable good or service, and an employee who contributes with labour to the enterprise, usually in return for payment of wages. ….”

 

Table of Contents

Executive summary

1. Introduction

2. The process of knowledge generation

3. Outcomes and findings

3.1. Theoretical model

3.1.1. Macro structural framework

3.1.2. Micro framework

3.2. A historical perspective on labour markets

3.2.1. Developed countries

3.2.2. Developing/poor countries

3.3. Labour markets and welfare states: a country perspective

3.3.1. Country typology of employment relations

3.3.2. Selected country case studies

3.3.2.1. Sweden

3.3.2.2. United States

3.3.2.3. Chile

3.3.2.4. Turkey

3.3.2.5. Nigeria

3.3.2.6. Ethiopia

3.4. Employment relations and health: a descriptive view

3.5. Employment relations and health inequalities: pathways and mechanisms

3.6. Policies and interventions

4. Conclusions and recommendations

5. References

6. Appendices

6.1. Tables of typology of countries

6.2. Summary of representative scientific findings

                6.3. Selected case studies

 

Report Writing Group, Marcelo Amable, Paula Ballell, Joan Benach, Antía Castedo, Haejoo Chung, Yucel Demiral, Gerry Eijkemans, Katherine Lippel, Carles Muntaner, Michael Quinlan, Javier Ramos, Vilma Santana, Atanu Sarkar, Orielle Solar

EMCONET Core Group, Francisco Armada, Joan Benach, Antía Castedo, Yucel Demiral, Chamberlain Diala, Magdalena Echevarría, Gerry Eijkemans, Sharon Friel, Anne Hammarström, Mary Haour-Knipe, Carles Muntaner, Shengli Niu, Marco A. Pérez, Michael Quinlan, Javier Ramos, Hernán Sandoval, Vilma Santana, Atanu Sarkar, Amit Sen Gupta, Meera Sethi, Orielle Solar, Walter Varillas, Laurent Vogel, Mariana Wagner

General Editor - Jacqueline Murray With Technical Assistance from Marcelo Amable, María Buxó, Alec Irwin, José Miguel Martínez, Vanessa Puig, Cecilia Schneider, Montserrat Vergara

 

 

*      *      *     * 

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ IKM Area] 

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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[EQ] The social determinants of health: Developing an evidence base for political action

The social determinants of health: Developing an evidence base for political action

Final Report from Measurement and Evidence Knowledge Network


Michael P. Kelly (Co-chair) - Josiane Bonnefoy (Co-chair)

World Health Organization - Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, 2007

 

Available online as PDf file [165p.] at: http://www.who.int/social_determinants/resources/mekn_report_10oct07.pdf

 

“……This report begins by identifying six problems which make developing the evidence base on the social determinants of health potentially difficult.
These are:
- lack of precision in specifying causal pathways;
- merging the causes of health improvement with the causes of health inequities;
- lack of clarity about health gradients and health gaps;
- inadequacies in the descriptions of the axes of social differentiation in populations;
- the impact of context on interpreting evidence and on the concepts used to gather evidence; and
- the problems of getting knowledge into action.

 

In order to overcome these difficulties a number of principles are described which help move the measurement of the social determinants forward. These relate to defining equity as a value; taking an evidence based approach; being methodologically diverse; differentiating between health differences, health gaps and health gradients; clarifying the causal pathways; taking both a structural and a dynamic approach to understanding social systems; and explicating potential bias.

 

The report proceeds by describing in detail what the evidence based approach entails including reference to equity proofing. The implications of methodological diversity are also explored. A framework for developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating policy is outlined.

 

At the centre of the framework is the policy-making process which is described beginning with a consideration of the challenges of policies relating to the social determinants. These include the multi-causal nature of the social determinants themselves, the fact that social determinants operate over the whole of the life

course which is a considerably longer time frame than most political initiatives, the need to work intersectorally, and the removal of the nation state as the major locus of policy-making in many parts of the world.

 

The ways to make the case for policies are described and appropriate entry points and communications strategies are identified.

The next four elements of the framework are outlined in turn:
(a) evidence generation,
(b) evidence synthesis and guidance development,
(c) implementation and evaluation, and
(d) learning from practice. Finally the report describes the principal ways in which policies relating to the social determinants may be monitored….”

 

Contents

1 The challenge of measurement and evidence about the social determinants of health

1.1 Conceptual and theoretical issues

1.1.1 Causal pathways

1.1.2 The difference between the causes of health and the causes of health inequities

1.1.3 Accuracy of descriptions of the social structure

1.1.4 Context

1.1.5 Nature of health inequity gradients

1.1.6 Translation of knowledge into action

1.2 Eight principles for developing the evidence base

2 Taking an evidence based approach

2.1 The evidence based approach

2.2 ‘Equity proofing’

3 Gaps and gradients

3.1 Health gaps

3.2 Health gradients

3.3 Shape of health gradients...25

4 Framework for policy development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation

5 Getting social determinants on the policy agenda – making the case

5.1 SDH and the policy-making process

5.2 Conceptual models to inform policy-making

5.2.1 ‘Policy streams’ model

5.2.2 Network models

5.2.3 Policy failure model

5.2.4 Stages of policy development

5.3 Making the case

6 Generating evidence for policy and practice

7 Evidence synthesis and action

7.1 Synthesizing complex and diverse data

7.1.1 Systematic reviews of effectiveness

7.1.2 Evidence synthesis

7.1.3 Quantitative approaches to evidence synthesis

7.1.4 Qualitative approaches to evidence synthesis

7.1.5 Mixed approaches to evidence synthesis

7.1.6 Combining separate syntheses: the EPPI approach

7.2 Producing guidance for action

8 Effective implementation and evaluation

8.1 Health equity auditing, needs assessment and impact assessment

8.1.1 Health equity auditing

8.1.2 Health impact assessment

8.2 Organizational development and change management

8.3 Readiness for intersectoral action

8.4 Effective ways of involving local communities

8.5 Evaluation

9 Learning from practice

9.1 Why do we need to collect knowledge from practice?

9.2 What do we know about the features of an effective system for learning from practice?

9.3 What sorts of information should be collected?

10 Monitoring

10.1 Use of data to monitor health inequities

10.1.1 Measuring the magnitude of health inequities

10.2 Sources of health data

10.2.1 Vital statistics

10.2.2 Censuses

10.2.3 Population-based surveys

10.2.4 Health records

10.3 Issues in interpreting key equity stratifiers

10.3.1 Education

10.3.2 Occupation

10.3.3 Income

10.3.4 Gender

10.3.5 Ethnicity/ race/ caste/ tribe/ religion

10.3.6 Place of residence

10.4 Special issues in low and middle income countries

10.4.1 Measuring socioeconomic position and other social constructs

10.4.2 Sources of data on social inequalities in health

10.4.3 Interpreting data on social inequalities in health

10.5 Improvements in monitoring systems

11 Further issues for consideration

11.1 Attribution of effects and outcomes

11.1.1 General theories

11.1.2 Theories of change

11.1.3 Micro theories or programme theories

11.1.4 Tacit knowledge theories

11.1.5 Priorities for action

11.2 The challenge of policy

11.3 Hierarchies of evidence

11.4 Equity: relative or absolute?

11.5 Where further research and development is required

12 Conclusion

13 Recommendations for policy makers and practitioners

14 References

APPENDICES

I Measurement and Evidence Knowledge Network (MEKN) and its methods 113

                II Illustrative case studies

 

Lead authors of final report:

Michael P. Kelly, Antony Morgan, Josiane Bonnefoy, Jennifer Butt, Vivian Bergman

With Johan Mackenbach, Mark Exworthy, Jennie Popay, Peter Tugwell, Vivian Robinson, Sarah Simpson, Thelma Narayan, Landon Myer,
Tanja Houweling, Liliana Jadue, Francisca Florenzano

 

 

*      *      *     * 

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ IKM Area] 

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAHO/WHO Website: http://www.paho.org/

EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

 

 

    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.