The social drivers of health

Abstract

This chapter flags some of the traditional social drivers of health and discusses several emerging ones. The conditions into which we are born set off a chain of complex, interlinked responses to the world around us that combine to influence our entire life course. These include housing conditions, schooling, the education levels of our parents, employment opportunities, and availability of healthcare. They are traditionally thought of as difficult to change or resist, but we think of them as drivers, things that can be changed if the will is there. Social drivers contribute to health inequalities. The most deprived groups experience the poorest health outcomes, with shorter life expectancy and more years of life lived in ill health, and this situation has worsened over the past few decades. The key challenge is how to address these drivers and the inequalities they cause in our ever-changing, fast-paced world.