Social Determinants of Health

The health of immigrant children, youth and families is affected to a large degree by their living conditions, factors that are outside the clinical setting. These 'social determinants of health' are related to the places and conditions in which people live, learn, work, and play. Social determinants include employment, education, housing, early childhood development, and communities.

Here are a few key resources that explain the relationship between social factors and health, and what health professionals can do.

Books, journal articles and websites

• Ontario Medical Review. Office interventions for poverty: racialized groups. This article looks at the health impact of poverty among new immigrants and refugees in Canada, and outlines practical approaches to care.
• Public Health Agency of Canada
  • What Makes Canadians Healthy or Unhealthy?
  • Canadian Best Practices Portal, Social Determinants of Health
• ​National Collaborating Centre for the Determinants of Health: evidence-based resources for health professionals
• Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts: Juha Mikkonen and Dennis Raphael, York University School of Health Policy and Management (2010).  Downloadable book.
• Social Determinants of Health: A Quick Guide for Health Professionals, Juha Mikkonen and Dennis Raphael (2012). Adapted from their book The Canadian Facts, this article includes a section on social exclusion and new Canadians, and offers suggestions for health professionals on getting involved in public policy discussions.
• The Health of Canada’s Children, Dennis Raphael (2010). A four-part series published in Paediatrics & Child Health the journal of the Canadian Paediatric Society:
  • Part 1. Canadian children’s health in comparative perspective
  • Part 2. Health mechanisms and pathways
  • Part 3. Public policy and the social determinants of children’s health
  • Part 4. Toward the future
• Healthcare Quarterly. Child Health in Canada. Issue 1: Social Determinants (2010)
• From office tools to community supports: The need for infrastructure to address the social determinants of health in paediatric practice, F Fazalullasha, J Taras, J Morinis et al, Paediatrics & Child Health (2014)
• A Different Kind of Care: The Social Pediatrics Approach, Dr. Gilles Julien (2004)
• World Health Organization: Social Determinants of Health

Videos

• Population health: A new agenda, Vancouver Coastal Health
• Let’s start a conversation about health…and not talk about health care at all, Sudbury District Health Unit

Reports

• Health Council of Canada: Stepping It Up: Moving the focus from health care in Canada to a healthier Canada (2010)
• National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health: The influence of socio-economic status and ethno-racial status on the health of young children and their families (2008)
• Growing Unequal? Income and poverty distribution in OECD countries (2008)
• Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of health, final report of the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health (2008)
• World Health Organization: Health of migrants – The way forward:  Report of a global consultation (2010)

Last updated: March, 2018