Revista panamericana de salud pública = Pan American journal of public health
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Rev. Panam. Salud Publica · Dec 2013
Synergy for health equity: integrating health promotion and social determinants of health approaches in and beyond the Americas.
Health promotion and social determinants of health approaches, when integrated, can better contribute to understanding and addressing health inequities. Yet, they have typically been pursued as two solitudes. ⋯ The value-added of integrating these two approaches is illustrated by three examples drawn from the authors' experiences in the Americas: at the community level, through a community-based coalition for reducing chronic disease disparities among minorities in an urban center in the United States; at the national level, through healthy-settings interventions in Canada; and at the Regional level, through health cooperation based on social justice values in Latin America. Challenges to integrating health promotion and social determinants of health approaches in the Americas are also discussed.
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Rev. Panam. Salud Publica · Dec 2013
Integrating social determinants of health in the universal health coverage monitoring framework.
Underpinning the global commitment to universal health coverage (UHC) is the fundamental role of health for well-being and sustainable development. UHC is proposed as an umbrella health goal in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda because it implies universal and equitable effective delivery of comprehensive health services by a strong health system, aligned with multiple sectors around the shared goal of better health. ⋯ This can be done by: (a) disaggregating UHC indicators by different measures of socioeconomic position to reflect the social gradient and the complexity of social stratification; and (b) connecting health indicators, both outcomes and coverage, with SDH and policies within and outside of the health sector. Not locating UHC in the context of action on SDH increases the risk of going down a narrow route that limits the right to health to coverage of services and financial protection.