The Nation's Health series: Social determinants of health

SDOHgraphic The conditions in which you live, learn, work and age affect your health. Social determinants such as neighborhood, education and health care can influence your lifelong well-being.

Consider the fact that 46.7 million Americans lived in poverty in 2014, including 15.5 million children. Or that one-fifth of U.S. students don’t graduate with a regular diploma four years after starting 9th grade. And 2.2 million people in the United States are behind bars in jails, prisons and other correctional facilities.

Public health is repositioning itself at the national, state and local levels to focus on social determinants of health. Join us as we explore social determinants of health and how they are being targeted in our series from The Nation’s Health.

SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH: AN INTRODUCTION

• Cover story: Shift toward social determinants transforming public health work (July 2016)

• Related story: Social determinants take center stage in call for Public Health 3.0 (July 2016)

EDUCATION AS SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH

• Cover story: Education attainment linked to health education throughout lifespan (August 2016)

• Sidebar: Education makes healthy choices easier, beginning early in life (August 2016)

• Podcast: Listen to our podcast: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Paula Braveman discusses the link between education and health (August 2016)

• Q&A: Social determinants on the local level: New Orleans Health Department takes on social determinants — Read the story and listen to the podcast (August 2016)

HOUSING AS SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH

• Cover story: Healthy, safe housing linked to healthier, longer lives: Housing a social determinant of health (September 2016)

• Sidebar: Medicaid, Medicare making the move toward social determinants (September 2016)

• Sidebar: Organizations nationwide focusing on social determinants (September 2016)

INCOME INEQUALITY AS SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH

• Cover story: Income inequality: When wealth determines health: Earnings influential as lifelong social determinant of health (October 2016)

• Sidebar: Childhood poverty associated with chronic disease, quality of health (October 2016)

• Related story: Chicago tackles social determinants with four-year vision for healthier city (October 2016)

Check out our infographics on social determinants of health
Read and share our social determinants of health images on our infographics page

Social determinants of health overview