Getting Started
What are Determinants of Health?
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, "determinants of health are the broad range of personal, social, economic and environmental factors that determine individual and population health."
Twelve (12) key determinants of health have been identified.
- Income and social status
- Employment and working conditions
- Education and literacy
- Childhood experiences
- Physical environments
- Social supports and coping skills
- Healthy behaviours
- Access to health services
- Biology and genetic endowment
- Gender
- Culture
- Race / Racism
To keep reading: PHAC (Public Health Agency of Canada)
Social Determinants of Health
The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels, which are themselves influenced by policy choices. The social determinants of health are mostly responsible for health inequities - the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries.
To keep reading: World Health Organization
Social Determinants of Health: The Solid Facts
Social determinants of health are the circumstances in which people are born, grow, live, work and age as well as the systems in place to deal with disease.
To keep reading: The Solid Facts
Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts
The primary factors that shape the health of Canadians are not medical treatments or lifestyle choices but rather the living conditions they experience. These conditions have come to be known as the social determinants of health. This information – based on decades of research and hundreds of studies in Canada and elsewhere – is unfamiliar to most Canadians.
To keep reading: The Canadian Facts