Resource Pack: Social Determinants of Health

This resource pack was curated by the Global Health Education and Learning Incubator to explore how social, economic and political factors shape the conditions and environment in which we live, work, and age, and affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. Although there are multiple frameworks, each with variable terminology, most acknowledge that inequitable differences in the circumstances of daily life (i.e., “downstream factors”) are determined by broader societal forces and structural factors (i.e., “upstream factors”).

The Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) describes the “social determinants of health” as including material circumstances, psychosocial factors, behaviors and lifestyles, and the health care system. They use the term “social determinants of health inequities” to refer to the structural factors that are a product of the broad socioeconomic and political context (governance, macro-economic policy, social policies, public policies, societal values and culture) and its influence on socioeconomic position.

This pack includes resources that explain both how societal structures, social interactions, and institutions impact population health and how ways governments and public health institutions can mitigate negative health impacts. Numerous examples of specific types of determinants, both “upstream” (e.g., structural racism) and “downstream” (e.g., housing) are provided, as well as country-specific and disease-specific examples. Brief annotations provide a cursory summary.