UCL Health and Society Summer School 2015: Social Determinants of Health

From 29th June 2015 09:00 To 03rd July 2015 17:00

Our Current Open Consultations

We currently have open, the following consultation:

Impact of Adverse Experiences in the Home on the Health of Children and Young People, and Inequalities in Prevalence and Effects

 The consultation report is available to download here.

If you would like to respond to the consultation, please fill out the consultation questions form and return to Patricia Hallam - p.hallam@ucl.ac.uk - by the 6th March 2015.

DRIVERS publishes reports on early child development, employment & working conditions, and income & social protection

Three important reports have been published by the DRIVERS project, including one by the UCL Institute of Health Equity.

They detail the scientific work carried out by teams at University College London/UCL Institute of Health Equity, the Department of Medical Sociology at Universität Düsseldorf, and the Centre for Health Equity Studies (CHESS) at Stockholms Universitet, on (respectively) early child development, employment & working conditions, and income & social protection.

The project's final recommendations were presented on 3 February 2015, at a conference held at the Residence Palace in Brussels.

Invitation to Attend Global Symposium: The Role of Physicians and National Medical Associations in Addressing the Social Determinants of Health and Increasing Health Equity.

March 24th and 25th 2015, BMA House, London

On the recommendation of the Council of the World Medical Association (WMA), the British Medical Association (BMA), Candian Medical Association (CMA), World Medical Association, and the UCL IHE will be hosting a symposium at BMA House on March 24-25, 2015 in London - to build on work already undertaken on the social determinants of health, and to discuss the role of physicians and National Medical Associations (NMA) in addressing these significant issues.

The objectives of the meeting are:

• To produce a report outlining actions that can be undertaken by physicians at the clinical level to address the health inequities of their patients and communities
• To develop recommendations for national medical associations on health equity actions at the national and international level
• To establish an international network and knowledge exchange platform for sharing policy innovations, clinical practices, and education and training programs for addressing the social determinants of health and health equity

By assembling key players from various national medical associations, participants will be able to share their successes both clinical and policy focused, and learn from the experiences of other countries.

We would like to extend the invitation. However, please note that numbers are limited. For more information or to confirm a place please contact Patricia Hallam - p.hallam@ucl.ac.uk

Follow @MichaelMarmot

You can now follow Professor Sir Michael Marmot on Twitter, where you'll get regular insights into health equity and #SDOH, and where you'll see updates on exciting events planned for the Institue in 2015 @MichaelMarmot

Michael Marmot Elected as President-Elect of the World Medical Association

On the 11th October, Professor Sir Michael Marmot was selected as the next President-elect of the World Medical Association. His acceptance speech can be found on our 'speeches and videos' page.

Dr Angela Donkin Responds to Alarming New Data from Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Today JRF published alarming data that illustrate again an increase in the numbers of households not able to afford an acceptable standard of living. Of all the households studied, there has been an increase in those unable to afford an acceptable standard of living, from 21% in 2008/9, to 24.8 % in 20011/12, and now to 27.3% for this year.

Read our full response via this recent blog post.

IHE Article Was #1 'Most Read' on American Journal of Public Health Website 2014

In September 2014 Professor Sir Michael Marmot and Dr Jessica Allen wrote an article for the American Journal of Public Health. The editorial addressed the role of social conditions in influencing health and how to reduce health inequalities.

Published online the article has now had alomost 6,000 reads, and we are pleased to announce that it was their #1 most viewed article in 2014.

The full article, 'Social Determinants of Health Equity', can be found on the American Journal of Public Health website.

Natural Solutions to Tackling Health Inequalities 

‘Natural Solutions to Tackling Health Inequalities’ report highlights the  evidence of the benefits of green spaces to health and wellbeing outcomes and the inequalities in use of, and access to, natural environments across England.

These inequalities  contribute to health inequalities. The report also proposes ways to improve access and use of green space, in order to improve health equity. 

In the light of this evidence it important  to see the large variations between local authorities in the proportion of people using greenspace for health and exercise.  These were reported by the Institute of Health Equity in September 2014 and found on the report page.

Together this information presents real challenges for practitioners, academics and policy makers from across the health and environment sectors, at both national and local levels, to better utilise the natural environment to help tackle health inequality.

Marmot Indicators 2014 - New Data Released

The Marmot Indicators are a new set of indicators of the social determinants of health, health outcomes and social inequality, that broadly correspond to the policy recommendations proposed in Fair Society, Healthy Lives. These 2014 indicators can be accessed in a spine chart format, which displays data for a range of social determinants, for each upper tier local authority in England.

To read more about the indicators and access the data, please see our Marmot Indicators 2014 project page.

Local Action on Health Inequalities - Suite of reports published

IHE was recently commissioned by Public Health England to write a suite of reports on how local areas can take action on health inequalities. These cover key Social Determinants of Health Areas.

More information, including links to all of the documents, can be found on our 'Local Action on Health Inequalities' report page.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs.

The full programme is available to listen on the BBC iplayer website.

Social Determinants of Mental Health

The IHE has written a report on the Social Determinants of Mental Health, published by WHO and the Gulbenkian Foundation. This report covers the links between social inequalities and mental health, and how action to improve the conditions in which people live can reduce the risk of those mental disorders that are associated with social inequalities. It also proposes principles for action and highlights some effective actions at both community and country level.

The full report is available on the Social Determinants of Mental Health Report Page.

Summer School on Social Determinants of Health 2014

IHE will be participating in the UCL summer school on social determinants of health. More information, including the programme and how to book a place, are available on the summer school website.

Measuring What Matters: A Guide for Children's Centres

The report 'Measuring What Matters' was published on the 17th March 2014, and builds on the report 'An Equal Start'. Measuring What Matters distills the evidence and utilises field studies in order to provide advice on the best suite of measures available in order to measure children's outcomes in children's centres.

Indicator Set: The impact of the economic downturn and policy changes on health inequalities in London

IHE have developed a set of indicators in order to measure the impact of the recession and welfare reforms in London, available on the indicator set report page. We have also produced a short document of key messages from the report.

This work, conducted by the IHE for the London Health Inequalities Network, complements our report, published in 2012, 'The Impact of the Economic Downturn and Policy Changes on Health Inequalities in London'.

Health Inequalities in the EU

This review was commissioned by the European Commission (EC), with the aim of producing a report on current health inequalities within and between countries in the EU and the actions being taken to combat them by the EC and its member states. The report was prepared by IHE in partnership with APHO, HAPI and Eurohealthnet.

The report:
i. documents and reviews the health inequalities situation in the EU including recent trends.
ii. documents and reviews the policy response to health inequalities at EU, national and, where relevant, sub-national levels.
iii. provides an analysis and commentary including implications and suggestions for possible future actions.

The full report is available on the EU report page, and there is also a press release and a Guardian article on the cost of Health Inequalities.

Review of Social Determinants and the Health Divide in the WHO European Region

The WHO Regional Office for Europe commissioned this review of social determinants of health and the health divide to identify actions needed to address health inequities within and between countries across the 53 Member States of the European Region.

This review was carried out by a cross-disciplinary consortium of Europe’s leading experts, chaired by Sir Michael Marmot and supported by a joint secretariat from the Institute and the WHO Regional Office for Europe.

The final report was published on the 30th October 2013. The executive summary is available along with press releases and other documents on the WHO European Review project page.

Working for Health Equity: The Role of Health Professionals

IHE have produced a report and are launching a programme of work on what health professionals can do to tackle health inequalities. This report and programme has received contributions and commitments from 19 royal colleges and other organisations.

The full report and executive summary are available on this page.

An Equal Start: Improving Outcomes in Children's Centres

Today the IHE is launching an outcomes framework for children's centres, which calls for a renewed focus on supporting good parenting and the environment in which parents live and work. It builds on existing frameworks and draws the best available evidence of what is important in early years, the views of practitioners and parents, and the work that government continues to take forward around the early years.

Both the executive summary (which includes the outcomes framework), and the full evidence review, are available to download here.

The press release is available here.

Action Needed to Reduce Impact on Health Inequalities from Recession and Welfare Changes

The UCL Institute of Health Equity is calling for action by local and national government to reduce a potential increase of health inequalities in London as a result of the economic downturn and welfare changes.

To find out more, please read our report, ‘The impact of the economic downturn and the welfare reforms on health inequalities in London’.

There is also a press release available here.

'Two Years On' Data

To mark the two year anniversary since The Marmot Review ('Fair Society, Healthy Lives') was published, on the 15th of February we released new data on key health inequalities indicators at local authority level.

To find out more, please read:

- The press release, including key figures and main findings.

- A blog by Michael Marmot about the data and it's implications.

- Press coverage of the data in national and local newspapers and websites.

- A powerpoint presentation on the key findings.

Or to see the data in more detail, go to the the LHO website.

The Institute of Health Equity

We are very pleased to announce the establishment of the UCL Institute of Health Equity. This will build on previous work to tackle inequalities in health led by Professor Sir Michael Marmot and his team, including the ‘Commission on Social Determinants of Health’ and ‘Fair Society Healthy Lives’ (The Marmot Review).

The new Institute receives support from the Department of Health, UCL and the BMA. It will seek to increase health equity through action on the social determinants of health, specifically in four areas: by influencing global, national and local policies; by advising on and learning from practice; by building the evidence base, and; by developing capacity.

Current work includes leadership of a review of Social Determinants of Health and the Health Divide for the WHO European Regional Office, EU Reviews  and a programme of work in England to develop and embed social determinants approach to health inequalities in the health system and beyond.  Please see the 'Institute work' section for more details on the work the Institute is currently undertaking.