Commission chaired by Sir Michael Marmot is researching the root causes of health inequalities in the Americas and will recommend action to reduce or eliminate health equity gaps.
Washington, D.C., 6 October 2016 (PAHO/WHO) - The five-month-old Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities in the Region of the Americas is convening for its second time this week at the headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), where it was launched last May to carry out the first large-scale effort to gather evidence on health inequities in the Region of the Americas.
The Commission, chaired by Sir Michael Marmot, former chair of the global Commission on Social Determinants of Health, brings together more than a dozen leading international experts on health policy and social determinants of health. The group was commissioned by PAHO to carry out the Independent Review on Equity and Health Inequalities in the Americas, an effort to identify the causes of health inequalities in the Americas to inform countries as they work to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reduce or eliminate health equity gaps. PAHO is serving as the Commission's secretariat.
The Region of the Americas is one of the world's most unequal regions but has emerged as a worldwide leader in moving forward two key agendas-the "Social Determinants of Health" and "Health in All Policies" agendas-that seek to reduce avoidable health inequities and contribute to sustainable improvements in human well-being and the enjoyment of the right to health and other related human rights. The Commission's work will draw on both these agendas to identify how factors including gender, ethnicity, legal and socioeconomic status influence health in the Americas and to make recommendations for policy and action.
In addition to Sir Michael Marmot, the members of the Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities in the Region of the Americas include Paulo Buss and Cesar Victora of Brazil, Nila Heredia of Bolivia, Tracy Robinson of Jamaica, Cindy Blackstock of Canada, Mirna Cunningham of Nicaragua, Maria Paula Romo of Ecuador, Pastor Murillo of Colombia, Mabel Bianco of Argentina, and David Satcher, Kathy Greenlee and Victor Abramovich of the United States.
Links
- PAHO launches high-level commission on inequality and health in the Americas
- PAHO program on Sustainable Development and Health Equity Determinants of Health
- Determinants of health
