Social Determinants Approaches to Public Health: From Concept to Practice

The thirteen case studies contained in this publication were commissioned by the research node of the Knowledge Network on Priority Public Health Conditions (PPHC-KN), a WHO-based inter-departmental working group associated with the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health. The case study project was overseen and managed by the WHO Department of Ethics, Equity, Trade and Human Rights (ETH) of the World Health Organization, in collaboration with the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), the Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP), and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR). The case studies describe a wealth of experiences with implementing public health programs that intend to have an effect on social determinants and equity. They also document the real life challenges in implementing such programs.