Don'T forget about the social determinants of health

Abstract

The Obama administration faces daunting challenges to reform health care. The authors, commissioners on the World Health Organization's Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, believe that strategies to improve health by affecting the social determinants may gain bipartisan support. These determinants-including the effects of poverty, education, the treatment of women, employment opportunities, and limited access to medical care for some-are as important in promoting health, if not more so, than the direct medical determinants of health. Focusing on these determinants makes more sense than waiting until people become sick and seek care, and it often costs much less.