PHM-Exch> When Do We Know Enough to Recommend Action on the Social Determinants of Health?

[Claudio Schuftan]

 *When Do We Know Enough to Recommend Action on the Social Determinants of
Health?**

***

Paula A. Braveman, , Susan A. Egerter, Steven H. Woolf,  James S. Marks
>From the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of
California San Francisco (Braveman, Egerter), San Francisco, California; the
Department of Family Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University (Woolf),
Richmond, Virginia; and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Marks),
Princeton, New Jersey

 *Am J Prev Med 2011;40(1S1):S58-S66 - 2011 American Journal of Preventive
Medicine

*

Website: http://bit.ly/gWr6i7

 "...........The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier
America was charged to identify strategies beyond medical care to address
health disparities in the U.S. related to social and economic disadvantage.



Based on insights gained while providing scientifıc support for the
commission's efforts, this paper presents an overview of major issues that
arise when assessing evidence to inform policies and programs to address the
social determinants of health. While many of the insights are not new, they
have not been widely assimilated within medicine and public health. They
have particular relevance now, given growing awareness of the important
health influences of social factors.



The discussion presented here is intended to highlight key considerations
for researchers who study social determinants of health and policymakers
whose decisions are shaped by research fındings. Policies should be based on
the best available knowledge, derived from diverse sources and methods.

An array of tools and guidelines is now available to guide the assessment of
evidence on the social determinants of health, building on--and going
beyond--principles fırst articulated in the "*Evidence-Based Medicine*"
movement.

The central thesis of the current paper is that the standards for evidence
to guide social policies must be equally rigorous but also more
comprehensive than those traditionally used to inform clinical
interventions, because social policies must deal with upstream factors that
affect health through complex causal pathways over potentially long time
periods...."



*Broadening the Focus: The Need to Address the Social Determinants of Health
*

*American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Volume 40, Issue 1, Supplement 1,
January 2011, *Pages S4-S18

Paula A. Braveman, Susan A. Egerter, Robin E. Mockenhaupt


Website: http://bit.ly/i6RG63



".....While ensuring that individuals have access to appropriate medical care
and information about health-promoting behaviors remains important,
effective solutions also will require a broader focus on the contexts that
powerfully shape both health behaviors and health itself. Much remains to be
learned about which strategies are most effective, but current knowledge is
suffıcient to indicate promising directions...."



Commission publications: http://www.commissiononhealth.org/Publications.aspx
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