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“Social injustices killing people”
Making a point: Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Chair of WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, delivering a lecture on ‘Social Determinants of Health: Challenges and Opportunities for Low and Middle Income Countries’ in New Delhi on Wednesday.
NEW DELHI: “Social injustices are killing people on a large scale and the toxic combination of bad policies, economics and politics is in large measure responsible for the fact that a majority of people in the world do not enjoy the good health that is biologically possible,” said Professor Michael Marmot, Chair of the World Health Organisation’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health, on Wednesday.
At a lecture organised here by the Public Health Foundation of India, Professor Marmot spoke on “Social Determinants of Health: Challenges and Opportunities for Low and Middle Income Countries”, drawing from his research experience and a recently concluded study titled “Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity through Action on the Social Determinants of Health”.
The report concluded that inequities in health and avoidable health inequalities arise because of the circumstances in which people grow, live, work and age and the system put in place to deal with illness.
“This refers to inequities between and within countries in conditions of daily living ‘structural’ conditions like social and economic policies as well as systems in place for surveillance and monitoring of inclusive health care,” noted Professor Marmot.
The Commission is a global body of policy makers, research academics, former government leaders and civil society members, and was created by the World Health Organisation in 2005 for collecting evidence on the role of social realities in determining health. This Commission’s landmark report, under the leadership of Professor Marmot, was released recently by the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland.
Highlighting the importance of understanding social gradients responsible for poor health as well as improved health, Professor Marmot said: “Wealth alone does not determine the health of a nation’s population. Some low-income countries Costa Rica, China, Sri Lanka, Cuba and the state of Kerala in India have achieved good and equitable health in spite of relatively low levels of national wealth. Among the lessons drawn out by the report, from these countries is the importance of good social policy emphasising education, particularly for girls and women.”
Professor Marmot also stressed the need for collective action in demanding and developing policies and programmes that close gaps in education and skills, and that support female economic participation.
“We need to foster a global movement to create an enabling environment for recognition and action on social determinants of health, as a means of delivering social justice and saving lives,” said Professor Marmot.
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