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 The Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH)
clearly establishes that dramatic inequalities in health and healthcare
exist worldwide and affect individuals in places where they live, work and
die. A majority of health
inequalities existing between and within countries are avoidable and, hence
inequitable. However, these inequalities
are more pronounced in the developing world including the countries of the
WHO South-East Asia Region.
The
socially determined “causes of the causes” of premature deaths and
illnesses exist outside the health sector. These upstream factors include
rapid and often adverse social, political, economic and demographic changes
that affect working conditions, learning environments, urbanization, food
consumption and family patterns, as well as cultural values and the general
social fabric of communities.
This
site presents the work of the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia jointly
with its Member
States and partners
on closing the gap on health equity through addressing social determinants
of health. The WHO SEARO approach to
addressing social determinants of health (SDH) evolves around:
Integrating SDH with health systems strengthening,
Millennium Development Goals (MDGS)
and revitalized primary health care (PHC) in order to achieve multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary action
An exchange of practical experiences in
addressing health inequities and social determinants of health among
countries of the South-East Asia Region and other regions;
Conducting health equity analysis in order
to explore the pathways by which social determinants influence health
outcomes;
Promoting research work on health inequities
and other social determinants of health including social, cultural and behavioural research; and
Documentation and dissemination of the
evidence among programmes and policy makers.
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