Constituency Statement to the 76th World Health Assembly – Social Determinants of Health

WHO’s work on SDoH is deeply valued by this constituency. Progress to address key SDoH has been insufficient worldwide, especially to tackle power imbalances and the actions by health-harming industries, including the tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy food and beverage and fossil fuel sectors, which is why WHO’s work in this area is so important. Failure to address these issues is driving the global burden of NCD mortality (including from cancers, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, chronic respiratory disease, mental health and neurological conditions) and NCD morbidity (e.g. billions living with oral health conditions)

We particularly commend WHO's work on commercial determinants - a key obstacle to health equity. We welcome the Report’s systems-based approach and proposed actions to address structural barriers: economic and gender inequality; racism and other forms of discrimination. We urge that stigma, false narratives and preconceptions also be addressed as part of the wider determinants to access quality health services, particularly for people living with obesity, alcohol use disorder or other mental health conditions, and other NCDs.

We recognise many determinants of health lie outside the health sector and must be tackled through a multisectoral approach: nowhere is this truer than for public health priorities such as the obesity epidemic, tobacco and alcohol harm, and air pollution.

We call on Member States to:

• accelerate UHC implementation equitably by guaranteeing quality services that span across the continuum of care - including health promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care - that are fair and don’t perpetuate stigma;
• focus more strongly on the implementation of the NCD 'best buys', especially pro-health taxes, which provide substantial return on investment and multiple benefits for addressing SDoH.

We call on WHO to:

• ensure the development of the World Report and operational framework remains transparent;
• clarify how the social determinants operational framework and well-being framework will complement each other.