Health starts where we live, learn, work, and play (RWJF, 2010). For example, decades of research has shown how opportunities for education, employment, housing, safe neighborhoods, and social connections - in addition to quality healthcare - significantly impact people’s health (Davis et al., 2016). These conditions are often referred to as the social determinants of health.
Effective change efforts simultaneously promote multiple conditions or social determinants of health within a community to meet people’s needs (Prevention Institute, 2015). This also involves removing obstacles that make it harder for some groups to access opportunities for health than others - for example based on their socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability status, geographic location, or a combination of these characteristics.
Click on the dropdown bars below to learn more about how to promote the social determinants of health. For information and resources on specific social determinant areas, explore the topics in the sub bar on the right.
The following resources can support you in having conversations about the social determinants of health.
Healthy People 2020 website
Descriptions, literature references, and additional resources on the social determinants of health. Source: Healthy People 2020
Healthy Living Toolkit
Descriptions, resources, and example indicators and strategies for how to address and track progress around multiple social determinant of health areas. Source: Denver Housing Authority
Unnatural Causes Video Series
Links to hundreds of articles, websites, video clips, charts, data sets, interviews, transcripts, and educational and outreach materials on how social and community conditions impact health equity. Source: Public Broadcasting Service
All Health is Local
Video produced by MDHHS, designed to support CHIR efforts to adopt a focus on Social Determinants of Health. Source: MDHHS
A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a systematic process to assess and improve potential health impacts of a plan, proposal, policy, program, or project on individuals, neighborhoods, and communities. A Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) incorporates an equity analysis into this work, assessing if and how these plans, policies, and practices affect health inequities.
Promoting Equity Through the Practice of HIA
A description of how a Health Impact Assessment can promote equity through the use of specific strategies and equity principles. Source: Policy Link
Health Impact Assessment Toolkit
A report on themes from 134 Health Impact Assessments. Source: American Planning Association
Rapid Health Impact Assessment Toolkit
The Design for Health (DFH) rapid assessment, a participatory workshop, is part of a suite of health impact assessment (HIA) tools that includes a preliminary checklist and a threshold analysis. Source: Design for Health
An Evaluation of Health Impact Assessments in the United States
Results of this study suggest HIAs are a useful tool to promote public health because they can influence decisions in non health-related sectors, strengthen cross-sector collaborations, and raise awareness of health issues among decision makers. Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Health Impact Project
Database of Health Impact Assessments throughout United States. Source: Pew Research Trust
Health in All Policies (HiAP) helps decision-makers across multiple sectors and levels of government embed a focus on health and health equity in their policies, processes, resource allocations, and programs.
Talk with others about Health in All Policies Approach
A Health In All Policies Presentation
A customizable presentation to help make the case for Health in All Policies and build support for an initiative among leaders and community members. Source: ChangeLab Solutions
Collaborative Health: A Health in All Policies Video
Brief introduction to the Health in All Policies approach, including the importance of considering health, sustainability, and equity in policy decisions. Source: ChangeLab Solutions
Tools: Examples of Health in All Policies Decision-Making Materials
Health in all Policies Model Policy
Model policies designed to help communities at different stages of readiness institutionalize a Health in All Policies approach. Source: ChangeLab Solutions
The Changemaker's Guide
Resources for practitioners and residents to meaningfully engage with the policy and planning processes shaping their neighborhoods. Source: ChangeLab Solutions
Hospitals Aligned for Healthy Communities Toolkit
Strategies for how hospital and health systems can leverage internal policies to support health equity within their community. Source: Democracy Collaborative
Anchor Mission Playbook
How nonprofit or public place-based entities such as universities and hospitals can align their strategies and leverage their institutional resources to both advance their nonprofit missions and to reduce health and wealth disparities in their surrounding communities. Source: Democracy Collaborative
Children’s Health in all Policies Workbook
How policies influence child health across multiple environments including home, school, medical, physical and social. Source: Kansas Health Institute
HIAP Strategies to Promote Innovative Leadership
Learn how to promote a Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach in policymaking and development. Source: Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
HIAP: A Guide for State and Local Governments
How policies influence child health across home, school, medical, physical and social environments. Source: American Public Health Association
The following are commonly used databases for assessing multiple social determinant of health.
American Fact Finder provides publicly available census data from the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas. Users can find public data about their community by searching for their state, county, city, town, or zip code. The database provides census information on population and housing, poverty and income, as well as age, race, sex, and education.
Community Commons helps to build customized reports and maps using multiple data sources. By searching for multiple data points of interest, such as poverty or median income levels within a geographic area, communities can assess regional health data points together.
County-level data and reports on public health available across the United States. Health behaviors, health factors, socioeconomic factors, and physical environmental factors are all ranked by county to assess how and where counties stand in health outcomes within their state. Other resources available include information on how communities can select the right partners to take action, along with policy and program information on health determinants.
An overview outlining Social Determinants of Health with lists of additional databases for each social determinant. Organized by each social determinant, the directory presents further resources on specific datasets related to each determinant.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Equity Atlas provides information on how to design a community equity atlas. The toolkit provides background information on why equity atlases are important representations of community equity levels and how they can be used to drive community understanding and action. A step by step guide on how to plan, create, and utilize a community equity atlas is provided.
An A-Z guide for literature and resources on the Healthy People 2020 objectives and measures. Provided for each topic measurement is an overview of the topic, goals, and evidence-based resources.
