The Social Determinants of Health Inequalities: Implications for Research and Practice in Social Pharmacy

The causes and consequences of health inequalities (and their implications for research and practice) have not, it is fair to say, been a notable feature of the body of work that we refer to as social pharmacy. By contrast, the previous three decades have witnessed a burgeoning number of empirical studies, numerous reviews, and growing political awareness about the social determinants of health inequalities. The field of epidemiology and public health, focusing on health inequalities, has risen in prominence with a finding that an individual’s social position (whether this is measured by social class, education, or deprivation) profoundly shapes their health outcomes. To illustrate this using deprivation as a marker of social position, the recent Global Burden of Disease study showed that males who lived in the most deprived areas of England in 2013 could expect to have a life expectancy which was 8.2 years shorter than those living in the least deprived areas. If we were to look at social class or education, we would also see wide differences in health outcomes. There are, of course, huge inequalities in health outcomes when we compare health outcomes within and between different countries. For those who want to know more about this literature, there are numerous reviews.