2010, Number 3
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MEDICC Review 2010; 12 (3)
Overcoming barriers to improved research on the social determinants of Health
Baum F
Language: English
References: 22
Page: 36-38
PDF size: 34.75 Kb.
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the recommendations of the World Health
Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of
Health regarding the need for improved research on determinants
of health inequity and discusses the following barriers to
implementation of those recommendations: the power of the
biomedical imagination in health and medical research; emphasis
on vertical health programming; ideological biases outweighing
evidence in policy decisions; and academic reward
systems, including the inherent conservatism of peer review.
The paper concludes with suggestions for changing research
funding and assessment systems to overcome these barriers.
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