The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced an operational framework for monitoring social determinants of health equity and actions to address them. This important new guidance supports evidence-based policies to improve health equity, with the goal of enabling everyone, everywhere, to achieve the highest possible standards of health and well-being. It aims to assist countries in their decisions.
The conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, as well as their access to power, money, and resources (also known as social determinants of health), influence their health and well-being. I'll give it. These same factors drive health inequalities within and across countries. Recent and ongoing crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and conflicts around the world, have further exacerbated inequalities and created an urgent need for governments to restructure societies in ways that benefit everyone. It highlights gender.
“Maintaining the fundamental human right to health requires governments to systematically identify and eliminate inequalities. This is only possible if countries have the data, systems, and capacity to do so.” ,” said Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of the WHO's Department of Social Determinants. “WHO’s operational framework for monitoring social determinants of health equity provides a clear and practical path forward.”
New initiatives
Nearly 20 years ago, the WHO Committee on Social Determinants of Health established an agenda to assist countries in addressing social determinants of health. Despite high-level commitments by many governments, progress in implementing the Commission's recommendations remains insufficient.
To ensure that actions taken to address social determinants of health achieve their objectives, governments must develop and implement evidence-based policies, allocate resources, and prioritize interventions. , need accurate, timely and comparable data. In this context, the 74th World Health Assembly in 2021 adopted resolution WHA74.16 encouraging Member States to take action to address social determinants of health. As part of this resolution, WHO was tasked with preparing an operational framework for measuring social determinants of health and health inequalities.
A recently launched operational framework reviews previous research and addresses this topic. Provides a menu of indicators. Provides a step-by-step process for technical monitoring. We also discuss how data can be used to inform health equity policy at the national and subnational levels. In conjunction with the upcoming Global Report on Social Determinants of Health Equity, the operational framework will spearhead new efforts to address social determinants of health.
“WHO supports its commitment to promoting health equity and creating more just societies and healthier lives. Monitoring the social determinants of health equity is an important step. “We stand ready to help countries use and adapt the operational framework to their own circumstances,” Dr. Krug said.
