that will ultimately produce the health and other societal outcomes of interest. Policymaking 2. Diana Montoya-Williams, MD 1; Elena Fuentes-Afflick, MD, MPH 2. • Advocate and lobby for change built on the principals of equity, democracy and participation and right to health as a basic human rights. Unhealthy Politics People’s Health 5 Movement What is the role of Civil Society? Europe, with its divisive history, has produced many instances of gross population health effects of political decisions, both negative and positive. The political determinants of health are key to understanding the myriad factors that contribute to inequities faced by underserved and marginalized communities. The concept that health comes with significant social determinants is everywhere we turn. Because of this, interventions that target multiple determinants of health are most likely to be effective. Dawes presents a road map for addressing the factors at the root of health outcomes in this country. Social factors 3. Political outputs include the laws, taxes, social security benefits, public services, etc. 1. 3. 1 Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Author Affiliations Article Information. In this book, Daniel E. Dawes argues that political determinants of health create the social drivers—including poor environmental conditions, inadequate transportation, unsafe neighborhoods, and lack of healthy food options—that affect all other dynamics of health. Health services 4. Individual behavior 5. And they highlight a basic reality―that public health is inherently political. Looking at health through the lens of political determinants means analysing how different power constellations, institutions, processes, interests, and ideological positions affect health within different political systems and cultures and at different levels of governance. These political determinants of health breech human rights conventions, lack an evidence base, and are profoundly damaging across generations. Health is a political choice, and politics is a continuous struggle for power among competing interests. • Develop or be a partner in the development and Political Determinants of Population Health.

Better policy could be and should be implemented but there appears to be a lack of political will. In 2014, the Commission published a report that drew attention to the political determinants of health inequities – that is, “the transnational norms, policies and practices that arise from political interaction across all sectors that affect health” . Political Determinants of Health? This idea – that health and health inequities are driven by “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age [and are] shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources” – is increasingly the focus of articles, research projects, toolkits, new courses and new conferences.