The Social Determinants of Health
Bold action is needed to rethink how all players in the healthcare ecosystem can work together to treat diseases - and to address their causes. Medicines innovation is adding time and quality to people's lives. The social determinants of health - often-ignored social factors such as employment, housing, income inequality, and level of access to clean water, education and transport - can undermine progress in raising health outcomes. Governments, in Ireland and around the world, should not ignore these factors.
We examine how social factors can often counteract medical best practice. When health systems implement solutions for people already sick and in crisis, it may be too late. The point of intervention should come before then - and sometimes the best preventative pathways are social rather than therapeutic.
We hear what it takes to build collective will in confronting the social determinants of health. Stakeholders spanning the health ecosystem - policymakers, biopharmaceutical companies, doctors, patients and others - are, in many countries, a loose coalition whose collective focus is often not on creating the social conditions for better health. We ask how that can be improved - for Ireland and for the world.
We explore these themes in partnership with consulting firm PwC.
Time: 8am to 9.30am
Date: November 5, 2020
Register here.