Regional launch series summary
Overview
Following the 3-D Commission report launch on the occasion of the 76th United Nations General Assembly, the 3-D Commission hosted a series of regional launch events focused on the following regions: Middle East, Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe. The regional launch series featured experts discussing region-specific challenges to, and opportunities for, achieving the 3-D “ideal,” where data on the social determinants of health (SDoH) are used to inform decision-making and policies are implemented that contribute to the achievement of health equity.
Takeaways
Below are cross-regional themes that emerged from the regional launch events, as well as highlights from each event. Each event focused on the different regional challenges to, and opportunities for, implementing the 3-D principles and recommendations and reaching the 3-D “ideal.”
Several themes recurred throughout the regional launch events:
The need for multisectoral collaboration to improve population health
The need for timely and complete data on the full range of SDoH
The importance of engaging community members when implementing policies related to health
The benefits of having diverse data from both health and non-health sectors
Middle East
To improve public health throughout the Middle East, it is important to focus on multisectoral collaboration.
In recent years, there has been an increase in demand for data in the Middle East. However, there are challenges in existing data capacity, and often some of the data requested by decision-makers are not available or accessible. For example, when discussing opportunities to reduce air pollution, a Ministry of Finance may ask for data about return on investment; however, there may be no data available to make the case as requested.
“When we talk about social determinants, we need to think about different sectors speaking to each other. This is not something that we have seen. We haven’t seen a good governance to promote this communication, learning, and coordination.” – Dr. Fadi El-Jardali
Americas
Throughout the Americas, heath equity is discussed frequently, and data focused on SDoH are being collected. However, it is challenging to use these data. A greater push is needed for decision-makers and leaders to utilize these data in ways that benefit marginalized communities.
Data from diverse health areas can be effective in driving decisions on a singular health focus where data may be limited. For example, decision-makers in the Caribbean utilized data from other therapeutic areas (e.g., non-communicable diseases) to inform responses to COVID-19. These data were used to help with the distribution of resources to communities who needed them most.
Data on SDoH are equally important for effective health decision-making. In the United States, Center for Disease Control and Prevention data have shown that an individual’s occupation, income, education level, etc. are important indicators of health; this was reflected in the relative rates of COVID-19 exposure and even deaths across different population segments.
“In our work, it is important to remember that data points are people.” – Dr. Felicia Knaul
Asia
A challenge throughout the Asia region is ensuring that decision-makers take into consideration different populations and utilize context-specific information when making decisions related to health, because different communities will be affected differently by policies.
Health is multisectoral and thus should be guided by multidisciplinary learning. We must engage with other sectors that are influencing health to ensure that they are being more responsive to health concerns. Additionally, we must frame our actions with the overarching frame of SDoH.
The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the need to focus on SDoH. For example, regarding vaccine uptake throughout Asia, certain groups are not being provided vaccines in a timely manner (e.g., women are receiving fewer vaccines compared to men). It is important to look at these trends through the lens of SDoH.
“There are different dimensions to health equity that we should be considering and quantifying so that we do have objective measures and outcomes by which we should benchmark within and across populations” – Dr. Gabriel Leung
Africa
Throughout the Africa region, a consistent challenge is having timely, complete, and useful data for decision-making. COVID-19 has exposed how far behind certain countries are in collecting the data needed to make decisions for better health outcomes.
Multisectoral involvement is needed to improve health. This applies to intersectoral responses when it comes to assisting with a global health crisis. COVID-19 has forced multisectoral collaboration into existence, and that must continue.
“The problem we are having in most lower- and middle-income countries is that there is a huge divide between those who generate data and those who are in a position to make use of data. This has created a problem in our evidence to policymaking process” – Dr. Jesse Uneke
Europe
Evidence-informed decision-making must go beyond healthcare and must include data on SDoH, which must in turn be translated into action.
There needs to be an increase in reliable and accurate data on SDoH to positively influence health outcomes. Currently, data on SDoH do not translate into transparent governance, which is necessary to make decisions related to population health outcomes.
Community engagement is essential to improving health. However, for community members, especially those who are marginalized, to have their voices heard, we improve policies that are implemented around voting rights. Too often, the voices of marginalized communities are silenced at the ballot box.
“One thing that has not been discussed enough is accountability. Data are important for holding our elected and unelected leaders accountable.” – Dr. Martin McKee
For more information about these events, please see each event’s page linked below: