Narrowing World Health Disparities
TIME - USA
In every country around the world, WHO's Commission on the Social 
Determinants of Health found that the very best off had better health than 
people a few ...
See all stories on this topic 
WHO calls for life expectancy gap to be closed
ABC Online - Australia
The new WHO report on the social determinants of health points out for 
example that a girl born in Japan is likely to live 42 years longer than 
one born in ...
See all stories on this topic 
Social injustice can kill, global panel claims
Globe and Mail - Canada
The 256-page report, entitled Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health 
Equity through Action on the Social Determinants of Health, also 
challenges current ...
See all stories on this topic 
Merlin welcomes new report highlighting unfair distribution of ...
Reuters AlertNet - London,England,UK
Reducing health inequities is an ethical imperative, according to the 
Commission on Social Determinants of Health, Chaired by Professor Sir 
Michael Marmot, ...
See all stories on this topic 

http://www.who.int/social_determinants/final_report/en/index.html

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27857&Cr=WHO&Cr1=

Global social inequalities lead to widely diverging health patterns ? UN 
report

28 August 2008 ? A Japanese woman will live 42 years longer than a woman 
in Lesotho, and such a staggering disparity in life expectancy is due to 
inequalities in where people are born, grow up and age, the United Nations 
World Health Organization (WHO) said in a new report issued today.
"Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale," a commission 
comprised of academics including Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen, former 
heads of state and health ministers said after a three-year investigation.

According to their study, entitled "Closing the Gap in a Generation: 
Health Equity through Action on the Social Determinants of Health," 
biology is not at fault for the odds of a woman in Afghanistan dying in 
childbirth being 1 in 8, compared to a mother in Sweden, where the risk is 
1 in 17,400.

"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," the 
report noted.

Recent years have witnessed surges in global wealth, technology and living 
standards, but how resources are allocated to services and 
institution-building in low-income countries is key.

A nation's wealth alone does not determine the health of its population, 
the Commission said, citing the examples of Cuba, Costa Rica, China and 
Sri Lanka as countries which have achieved high levels of health despite 
relatively low national incomes.

The report pointed to the model of Nordic countries, where resources are 
put towards promoting equal benefits and services, full employment and 
gender equality, as well as for curbing social exclusion.

It also highlighted some glaring inequalities in health within countries. 
An indigenous Australian male can expect to live 17 years shorter than all 
other men in the same country, while maternal mortality is three to four 
times higher among Indonesia's poor women compared to its rich women.

To broach inequalities both within and among nations, the 13-member 
Commission made three broad recommendations: to boost daily living 
conditions; to address distortions in the distribution of power, money and 
resources; and to understand the problem's scope.

"Health inequity really is a matter of life and death," said WHO 
Director-General Margaret Chan, who was presented with the report today.

She stressed that national health systems will not trend towards equity 
without "unprecedented leadership" to drive people on all fronts, not just 
in the health sector.

To UNSUBSCRIBE send to: [log in to unmask] the following phrase "unsubscribe click4hp" as unquoted text. To view archives or manage your subscription (and create a password) go to http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/click4hp.html