The Regional Commission on the Social Determinants of Health was established in November 2019 to review health inequities in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region and issue recommendations to address these inequities. 

This report is the Executive Summary of the final report of the WHO EMRO Commission on Social Determinants of Health.

Read the Executive Brief Report which introduces the final report of the WHO EMRO Commission on Social Determinants of Health in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Analysis undertaken for this Commission is closely aligned to evidence from around the world about the critical role of social determinants in driving health inequities within and between countries. Inequities in the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, and what the commission label the structural drivers of those conditions – political, economic, cultural and environmental influences – produce inequities in health. Action to improve health equity must be centred around action on the social determinants of health.

The Commission draws on evidence and analysis from previous WHO Commissions, including the 2008 Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, and Commissions in the Region of the Americas and European Region, as well as evidence from national commissions.

• Read the Press Release for the launch of the report
• Read a Commentary from the Commission, published in The Lancet
• Read an Editorial from the Commission, published in the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal
• Read more about the Commission