Paradigm shifts are hard to come by: looking ahead of COVID-19 with the social and environmental determinants of health and the UN SDGs

Abstract: Brazil currently has the highest absolute number of homicides in the world, which results from a complex range of factors. This study aimed at understanding the associations between socio-environmental determinants of health (SDH) and homicides in Brazil through a systematic literature review. The review followed PRISMA guidelines, selecting quantitative and qualitative studies published in Portuguese, English, and Spanish carried out between 2002 and 2017, available in the PubMed, MEDLINE, LILACS, SciELO and BVS-BIREME databases. Two trilingual reviewers tracked studies independently by basing on the eligibility criteria. We critically assessed the selected studies with the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) or the Checklist for Analytical Cross-Sectional Studies, depending on the study design. We considered 60 studies and grouped their SDH into categories to develop a narrative synthesis about each SDH. These categories were: territory; race/ethnicity; gender; age; social inequalities and economic factors; development; education; work and employment; drugs and trafficking; other SDH. We found some SDH were more associated with homicides, such as being young, black, male, of low education level, and also people who lived in places of high social inequality, such as urban suburbs and agricultural frontiers. Unemployment and drug trafficking, as well as intersections between various SDH were also prominent. Education seems to be a protective factor for homicide. Despite the limited capacity of interpretation due to the high range of methodological approaches, this review shows the importance of considering SDH and their intersections when developing homicide prevention policies.

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Danske og Internationale tendenser: Idræt og Sundhed

Forum for Idræt ◽

10.7146/ffi.v31i0.109044 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 31 ◽

pp. 99-110

Author(s):

Thomas Skovgaard

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Physical Inactivity ◽

Built Environments ◽

Environmental Determinants ◽

Major Health Problem ◽

Major Health ◽

Strong Focus ◽

Environmental Determinants Of Health ◽

The Social ◽

Health Enhancing Physical Activity

In the last decades there has been increasing recognition that physical inactivity represents a major health problem. Attention has been directed towards making the population more physical active in everyday life. Strategies have focused on individual, social and environmental determinants of health enhancing physical activity. This article argues that policies on physical activity, on top of addressing individual lifestyle factors, must include a strong focus on and plans for intervention in the social and built environments that influence the ability and interest in being physical active.

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Unique Environmental Determinants of Health

Handbook of Research Methods in Health Psychology ◽

10.4324/9780429488320-25 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 273-286

Author(s):

Yasmin M. Hussein ◽

Stephanie Spero ◽

Alexander Dean Bracken ◽

Deborah Fish Ragin

Keyword(s):

Determinants Of Health ◽

Environmental Determinants ◽

Environmental Determinants Of Health

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Students’ Perspectives: How Will COVID-19 Shape the Social Determinants of Health and Our Future as Public Health Practitioners?

Health Education & Behavior ◽

10.1177/1090198120963117 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 47 (6) ◽

pp. 850-854

Author(s):

Eliyas K. Asfaw ◽

Emily S. Guo ◽

Sarah S. Jang ◽

Swathi R. Komarivelli ◽

Katherine A. Lewis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Inequities ◽

The United States ◽

Determinants Of Health ◽

Next Generation ◽

Public Health Professionals ◽

The Social ◽

Health Practitioners ◽

To Come ◽

Public Health Practitioners

We are the next generation of public health practitioners. As public health students, we acknowledge that the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic will continue to fundamentally alter the field that we are preparing to enter. We will be the first wave of public health professionals whose education is being shaped by this pandemic. For decades to come, we will be working to address the impacts of this pandemic. In this commentary, we are lending our voice to discuss and highlight the importance of considering the intersections of various determinants of health and COVID-19, including education, food insecurity, housing instability, and economic hardship. We provide a discussion on what is being done across the United States in attempts to reduce the growing health inequities. As the next generation of public health leaders, we believe that only by investing in these issues can we begin to address the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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