Towards a politics of health

Abstract

The importance of public policy as a determinant of health is routinely acknowledged, but there remains a continuing absence of mainstream debate about the ways in which the politics, power and ideology, which underpin public policy influence people's health. This paper explores the possible reasons behind the absence of a politics of health and demonstrates how explicit acknowledgement of the political nature of health will lead to more effective health promotion strategy and policy, and to more realistic and evidence-based public health and health promotion practice.

Quality of Life among Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome

“…Difference in health care systems among countries and the resources provided for patients may affect their QoL (18). Cultures differences and living context may impair QoL in normal people among countries.…”

Fantasy paradigms of health inequalities: Utopian thinking?

“…Health inequalities are increasingly viewed as an outcome of material, social and cultural inequalities across societies (Krieger, 2001;Whitehead and Dahlgren, 2007;Wilkinson and Pickett, 2009;Krieger et al, 2010) which are, in turn, the product of inequalities in power 4 (Bambra et al, 2005;Schulz and Mullings, 2006), income and wealth, knowledge, social status and social connections (Link and Phelan, 1995). Viewed from this perspective, sustained long-term reductions in health inequalities are almost certainly dependent on strategies that engage effectively with these root causes (Phelan et al, 2004;Scott et al, 2013).…”

‘Neoliberal epidemics’ and public health: sometimes the world is less complicated than it appears

“…Sometimes the world is less complicated than it appears. Urgently needed, as many authors have noted, is a political science of health inequalities (Bambra, Fox, & Scott-Samuel, 2005;Bernier & Clavier, 2011;de Leeuw, Clavier, & Breton, 2014;Participants, 2015) that is capable of identifying the relevant macro-micro connections.…”