Annu. Rev. Public Health 2004. 25:397–418
2004 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
First published online as a Review in Advance on October 20, 2003
HOUSING AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Mary Shaw
Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall,
Whiteladies Road,
Bristol BS8 2PR, United Kingdom; email: [log in to unmask]
Key Words home, neighborhood, habitat, direct and indirect determinants
Abstract
This review considers the broad area of housing and public health,
one of the traditional and core areas of public health research and
intervention. The
review takes into account the range of factors, acting at different levels,
directly and
indirectly, through which housing affects health. In public health terms,
housing affects
health in a myriad of relatively minor ways, in total forming one of the
key social
determinants of health. The paper closes by considering how the improvement
of
housing and neighborhoods has been a core activity of public health and a
central
component in tackling poverty. Investment in housing can be more than an
investment
in bricks and mortar: It can also form a foundation for the future health
and well-being
of the population. Addressing poor-quality housing and detrimental
neighborhoods, in
the broadest sense, is thus a task that should be grasped with vigor and
determination
by all those involved in public health.
Annu. Rev. Public Health 2002. 23:287–302
THE MACROECONOMIC DETERMINANTS
OF HEALTH
S. V. Subramanian1, Paolo Belli2, and Ichiro Kawachi1
1Department of Health and Social Behavior and 2Department of Population and
International Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston,
Massachusetts 02115;
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Key Words economic development, poverty, inequality, health
Abstract
Why are some societies healthier than others? The consensus in development
economics is that the health achievement of nations has to do with their
levels
of economic development. Higher per capita incomes, through steady and
stable economic
growth, increase a nation’s capacity to purchase the necessary economic
goods
and services that promote health. In this paper, we review the conceptual
and empirical
linkages between poverty and poor health in both developing and developed
countries.
The empirical evidence is overwhelming that poverty, measured at the level
of societies
as well as individuals, is causally related to poor health of societies and
individuals,
respectively. Recent macroeconomic research has also drawn attention to the
role of
health as a form of human capital that is vital for achieving economic
stability. In particular,
attention has been drawn toward the ways in which unhealthy societies
impede
the process of economic development. However, the reciprocal connection
between
economic prosperity and improved health is neither automatic nor universal.
Other
features of society, such as the equality in the distribution of the
national wealth, seem
to matter as well for improving average population health and especially
for reducing
inequalities in health. We conclude by arguing for a need to reexamine the
way in
which health is conceptualized within the macroeconomic development
framework.
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