Resources

More than 150 entries of research on how community factors affect health.

This November 2002 report discusses evidence from research and practice on the key role that neighborhood factors play in determining health outcomes.

This article reviews a vast literature on environmental risk as a contributor to social inequality in health. [Evans, Gary W., and Kantrowitz, Elyse, Annual Review of Public Health, 23: 303-331, 2002]

This brief summary of the Institute of Medicine Unequal Treatment report describes how racial and ethnic disparities may emerge and summarizes relevant findings and recommendations to help health care managers and professionals provide high quality care for all patients.

The Harvard Center for Society and Health is dedicated to the task of identifying the social and economic determinants of health and intervening to improve the public’s health.

PolicyLink is a national nonprofit research, communications, capacity-building and advocacy organization working to advance policies to achieve economic and social equity.

This site offers a brief review, which is available on request, identifying four key factors that appear likely to cause disparities in the health of Americans of different income level, ethnicity, race and place of residence. This 2002 report by Larry Cohen is titled, “Preventive Analysis: Identifying Community Approaches to Eliminate Health Disparities.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada includes Canadian and international reports and resources on determinants of health. Click on “determinants of health” in topic listing.

The Social Medicine Portal is an independent site maintained by a group of concerned health professionals presenting studies, references and Web links.

This October 2005 report by the Brookings Institution discusses the impact of concentrated poverty in the nation's 50 largest cities. It stresses that society possesses the tools to enable public and private-sector leaders to create neighborhoods of choice and connection, leading to social and economic mobility for individuals and ultimately creating healthier communities.

Early childhood development programs are rarely portrayed as economic development initiatives. This paper by Art Rolnick and Rob Grunewald of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis outlines how studies find that well-focused investments in early childhood development yield high public as well as private returns.