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Commentary: Against unjust global distribution of power and money: The report of the WHO commission on the social determinants of health: Global inequality and the future of public health policy

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Abstract

In 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the report of its Commission on Social Determinants of Health – Closing the Gap in a Generation. We describe how the report was initially received, what went into shaping the report during the months of its preparation and what more can be done now to realize the ultimate goal: population-level reduction in inequalities. As we find the Report to be strong in its presentation of evidence but weak in its policy recommendations, we present our own recommendations for research and action. From our perspectives within the increasingly visible field of social determinants of health research, we address this question: how can research improve the ability of public health policymakers to implement the Report's suggestions, plus develop new and better ones?

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the contribution of Haejoo Chung, Jose Miguel Martinez, Michael Quinlan, Vilma Santana and Patricia O'Campo.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, 155 College, Toronto, ON M5T 1P8, Canada

    Carles Muntaner & Sanjeev Sridharan

  2. Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

    Orielle Solar

  3. Ministerio de Salud, Santiago de Chile, Chile

    Joan Benach

Authors
  1. Carles Muntaner
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  2. Sanjeev Sridharan
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  3. Orielle Solar
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  4. Joan Benach
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carles Muntaner.

Additional information

The authors who participated in creating the report describe how it came about and then enumerate its strengths and weaknesses.

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Muntaner, C., Sridharan, S., Solar, O. et al. Commentary: Against unjust global distribution of power and money: The report of the WHO commission on the social determinants of health: Global inequality and the future of public health policy. J Public Health Pol 30, 163–175 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1057/jphp.2009.15

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