Closing the Gap in a Generation

The Final Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health sets out key areas–of daily living conditions and of the underlying structural drivers that influence them–in which action is needed. It provides analysis of social determinants of health and concrete examples of actions that have proven effective in improving health and health equity in countries at all levels of socioeconomic development.

Part 1 lays out the rationale for a global movement to advance health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Part 2 outlines the approach the Commission took to evidence, and to the indispensable value of acknowledging and using the rich diversity of different types of knowledge. Parts 3, 4, and 5 set out in more detail the Commission’s findings and recommendations. Part 6, finally, reprises the global networks–the regional connections to civil society worldwide, the growing caucus of country partners taking the social determinants of health agenda forward, the vital research agendas, and the opportunities for change at the level of global governance and global institutions–that the Commission has built and on which the future of a global movement for health equity will depend.