Editorial - Reducing health inequities requires a new national health research agenda

Abstract

The Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) reported in August 2008 and held out the vision of a more equitable world. The Commission understood that this would be achieved by understanding the magnitude of inequities, and through careful inquiry into what works in different contexts around the world to determine how action for equity could be improved. In Australia, while we do describe our health inequities, what we don?t do so well is understand the evidence on social determinants and how action on them offers the best hope of promoting population health equitably. Without this understanding, we are unlikely to spawn a generation of research on social determinants that really comes to grips with the complexity of action to improve health and well-being in an equitable way.