BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES In resource-limited settings, the uptake of antenatal care visits among women, especially teenage pregnant women, is disturbingly low. Factors that influence the uptake of ANC services among teenage women is largely understudied and poorly understood in John Taolo Gaetsewe (JTG), a predominantly rural and poor district of South Africa. The aim of this study was to dete...

We argue that Canadian provincial governments should contain medical care spending in order to invest more in the social determinants of health (SDH). Others have said this, many times. Doing it has not proven easy. We therefore emphasize the potential contribution of the priority-setting and resource allocation literature. This literature identifies formal tools and approaches that have built ...

Despite a growing understanding that the social determinants of health have an impact on body mass index (BMI), the role of fatherhood on young men's BMI is understudied. This longitudinal study examines BMI in young men over time as they transition from adolescence into fatherhood in a nationally representative sample. Data from all four waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent H...

OBJECTIVE To systematically review and analyze various ways that health systems frameworks interact with the social determinants of health (SDH), as well as the implications of these interactions. METHODS This was a review of the literature conducted in 2012 using predetermined criteria to search three comprehensive databases (PubMed, the Cochrane Database for Systematic Reviews, and the Worl...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the experience of select cities in the Americas using the Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool (Urban HEART) launched by the World Health Organization in 2010 and to determine its utility in supporting government efforts to improve health equity using the social determinants of health (SDH) approach. METHODS The Urban HEART experience was evaluated in four ci...

The rise of the social determinants of health (SDH) discourse on the basis of statistical evidence that correlates ill health to SDH and pictures causal pathways in comprehensive theoretical frameworks led to widespread awareness that health and health disparities are the outcome of complex pathways of interconnecting SDH. In this paper we explore whether and how SDH frameworks can be translate...

INTRODUCTION The role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in predicting later adverse adult health outcomes is being widely recognized by makers of public policy. ACE questionnaires have the potential to identify in clinical practice unaddressed key social issues that can influence current health risks, morbidity, and early mortality. This study seeks to explore the feasibility of implement...

IMPORTANCE Socially responsible surgery (SRS) integrates surgery and public health, providing a framework for research, advocacy, education, and clinical practice to address the social barriers of health that decrease surgical access and worsen surgical outcomes in underserved patient populations. These patients face disparities in both health and in health care, which can be effectively addres...