WKC lecture at Kyoto University School of Public Health highlights links between health, education, poverty and the economy
Kyoto University School of Public Health offers a course on global health. Dr Megumi Rosenberg, WKC Technical Officer, has been a guest lecturer for this course since 2016 to talk about health and its association with education, poverty and the economy, which are commonly known as social determinants of health.
On 9 October 2019, Dr Rosenberg spoke to a group of international graduate students who are taking the course this year. The concept of social determinants of health was new to many of them. Dr Rosenberg began by introducing the social determinants of health and how they are mainly responsible for health inequities, the unfair and avoidable differences in health outcomes and opportunities for health seen between and within countries. She then provided a review of the evidence of the links between health, education, poverty and the economy, including some new evidence presented in the European Health Equity Status Report 2019.
The second half of the lecture focused on global initiatives that will contribute to reducing health inequities through action on the social determinants, including relevant WHO Resolutions and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The students actively participated in the lecture, sparking discussions about WHO’s global monitoring of action on the social determinants of health and how it is a mechanism for holding Member States accountable for their commitments to act.
