Abstract

In the year 2000, through Healthy People 2010, the United States committed to the goal of eliminating disparities in health. In 2008, the World Health Organization committed to working towards the elimination of global health inequities in response to recommendations from the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. Health inequities are the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries (WHO 2008). Health inequities grow out of conditions that are largely beyond an individual’s control, such as the conditions one is born into and in which one lives. Focusing on the social determinants of health as a means of reducing health inequities emphasises the importance of the overall environment where people live and work (Wilensky and Satcher 2009).