141st APHA Annual Meeting

APHA Home » APHA Meetings » Schedule and Online Program »

Online Program

In This section

292527
Wisdom for health equity: History and experience guide the future for the social determinants of health

Monday, November 4, 2013 : 3:15 PM - 3:30 PM

Henry Taylor, MD, MPH , Division of General Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Meike Schleiff , Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Lewisburg, WV
PURPOSE: We discuss the potential and future for current WHO efforts to advance the Social Determinants of Health (SDH) through a historical analysis of WHO's work towards Health Equity. By examining the International Conference on Primary Health Care (PHC) at Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, in 1978, we seek to inform current efforts to address the SDH. The pre-eminent document on the SDH omits key elements of the Alma Ata philosophy, which may subvert an otherwise worthy effort. METHOD: historical literature and archival document review, interviews with key informants, and first-hand participation in SDH debates. The session will describe current WHO efforts in planning for and maintaining momentum and political will in SDH, and analyze 35 years of experience with implementing PHC after Alma Ata. The last half of the session will engage the audience to commit in writing how they will address SDH with their constituencies, with a special emphasis on making sure the community's voice is heard. These will be compiled and presented back to the audience, most likely through a web-based audience response system (Alternate: a blog/email discussion) and potentially a journal submission

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Administration, management, leadership
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning

Learning Objectives:
Describe what current efforts to address the Social Determinants of Health can learn from 35 years of experience advancing Primary Health Care, especially with regards to the essential nature of Community Participation. Describe what WHO is doing to implement the report “Closing the Gap in a Generation”. Name and submit commitment(s) to advance the Social Determinants of Health in at least one constituency with whom they are actively engaged.

Keywords: Community Participation, Social Inequalities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have studied and teach about Primary Health Care and Social Determinants, in particular the 1978 Alma Ata Conference on Primary Health Care. I was a Thesis Advisor for Ms Schleiff. I am the son and biographer for Dr Carl Taylor who drafted much of the background papers for the Alma Ata conference and was a strong advocate for Equity.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3364.0: Social determinants of health
800 I Street, NW Washington, DC 20001-3710 (Ph) 202-777-APHA (Fax) 202-777-2534