Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Commission to build a healthier America: Evidence, policy, politics, and public health at local, state, and national levels

The RWJF Commission to Build a Healthier America is being launched in Fall, 2007 with the goal of leading to public- and private-sector policies at local, state, and national levels that will reduce socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in health by focusing on their social determinants. The Commission will raise awareness and stimulate debate among policy-makers and the public about the existence of large and persistent social inequalities in health in the U.S., their implications for society overall, and how they could be reduced. Ten to twelve distinguished individuals from the major sectors influencing health will make up the Commission, which will hold a series of high-profile hearings and issue reports over a two-year period. This session's speakers will discuss the rationale for this effort, the overall strategy and conceptual framework, and the research strategy and how the strategy overall addresses evidence, policy, politics, and public health at local, state, and national levels.