Abstract
Globalization is a key context for the study of social determinants of health (SDH). Broadly stated, SDH are the conditions in which people live and work, and that affect their opportunities to lead healthy lives.In this first article of a three-part series, we describe the origins of the series in work conducted for the Globalization Knowledge Network of the World Health Organization's Commission on Social Determinants of Health and in the Commission's specific concern with health equity. We explain our rationale for defining globalization with reference to the emergence of a global marketplace, and the economic and political choices that have facilitated that emergence. We identify a number of conceptual milestones in studying the relation between globalization and SDH over the period 1987–2005, and then show that because globalization comprises multiple, interacting policy dynamics, reliance on evidence from multiple disciplines (transdisciplinarity) and research methodologies is required. So, too, is explicit recognition of the uncertainties associated with linking globalization – the quintessential "upstream" variable – with changes in SDH and in health outcomes.
Highlights
This article is the first in a series of three that together describe research strategies to address the relation between contemporary globalization and the social determinants of health (SDH) through an 'equity lens,' and invite dialogue and debate about preliminary findings
Recent reviews [3,4] of research on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, communicable diseases that together account for almost six million deaths per year, identify poverty, gender inequality, development policy and health sector 'reforms' that involve user fees and reduced access to care as contributors
Our work follows a trajectory of inquiry initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO)
Summary
7. Black R, Morris S, Bryce J: Where and why are 10 million children dying every year? 9. Peden M, McGee K, Sharma G: The Injury Chart Book: A graphical overview of the global burden of injuries Geneva: World Health Organization; 2002. Monteiro C, Conde W, Popkin B: Obesity and inequities in health in the developing world. Monteiro C, Moura E, Conde W, Popkin B: Socioeconomic status and obesity in adult populations of developing countries: a review. Ezzati M, Vander Hoorn S, Lawes CM, Leach R, James WP, Lopez AD, Rodgers A, Murray CJ: Rethinking the "diseases of affluence" paradigm: global patterns of nutritional risks in relation to economic development. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2002, 80:952-958
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