Six key principles for using data to shape a healthier world

Our health is inextricably linked to social determinants – the upstream forces such as culture, politics, the accessibility of education, and the economy, that shape our lives. And yet, when we talk about health, we tend to overlook these wider issues. Health is often perceived to relate only to doctors and medicines, and investing in health tends to be understood as investing in health care, rather than taking a wider view of the social determinants.

The ubiquity of this limited understanding of health was evident in the results of a multi-country survey launched by the Rockefeller Foundation-Boston University 3-D Commission. The survey was conducted in eight countries spanning the wealth spectrum and found that about a quarter (24.6%) of 8,000 participants ranked healthcare as the most important determinant of health. Education was a distant second at 19.3%, while several well documented foundational causes of health (e.g., childhood conditions and income) were ranked as the most important determinants by fewer than 10% of the participants.

It is critical, then, that we increase the visibility of the full range of forces that shape health. This has been a core focus of public health at the local, national, and global levels. Importantly, many social determinants, such as housing and employment, will be shaped over the next few decades by global population trends, such as urbanization, migration, and inequities. These trends will present both challenges and opportunities when it comes to public health.