The Population Health Forum is a group based at University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

 in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, and composed of academics, citizens, students, and activists from around North America.

Purpose and activities

Activities include development of academic curricula for middle and high schools, advocacy, and maintenance of a population health listserv.

They focus on raising awareness around the issue of population health

Population health

Population health has been defined as “the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group.” It is an approach to health that aims to improve the health of an entire population. One major step in achieving this aim is to reduce health...

 and the social determinants of health

Social determinants of health

Social determinants of health are the economic and social conditions under which people live which determine their health. They are "societal risk conditions", rather than individual risk factors that either increase or decrease the risk for a disease, for example for cardiovascular disease and...

. The forum focuses on the role that economic inequality

Economic inequality

Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. The issue of economic inequality is related to the ideas of...

 and the gap between rich and poor impact a population’s health, using the “Health Olympics” (a ranking of countries in terms of life expectancy) as a model. The group aims to question why the United States ranks 29th in terms of health while spending half the world’s healthcare bill; it suggests that economic inequality as well as social stressors and loss of social cohesion

Social cohesion

Social cohesion is a term used in social policy, sociology and political science to describe the bonds or "glue" that bring people together in society, particularly in the context of cultural diversity. Social cohesion is a multi-faceted notion covering many different kinds of social phenomena...

 are prime factors.

Influences

The ideas of the group are heavily influenced by research into the social determinants of health by social social epidemiologists

Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...

 such as Richard G. Wilkinson and Ichiro Kawachi.

See also

• Population health
  Population health
  Population health has been defined as “the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group.” It is an approach to health that aims to improve the health of an entire population. One major step in achieving this aim is to reduce health...
  
  
• Economic inequality
  Economic inequality
  Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. The issue of economic inequality is related to the ideas of...
  
  
• List of countries by income equality
• Poverty
  Poverty
  Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
  
   and Cycle of poverty
  Cycle of poverty
  In economics, the cycle of poverty is the "set of factors or events by which poverty, once started, is likely to continue unless there is outside intervention."...
  
  
• Distribution of wealth
  Distribution of wealth
  The distribution of wealth is a comparison of the wealth of various members or groups in a society. It differs from the distribution of income in that it looks at the distribution of ownership of the assets in a society, rather than the current income of members of that society.-Definition of...
  
  
• Social determinants of health
  Social determinants of health
  Social determinants of health are the economic and social conditions under which people live which determine their health. They are "societal risk conditions", rather than individual risk factors that either increase or decrease the risk for a disease, for example for cardiovascular disease and...
  
  
• Epidemiology
  Epidemiology
  Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
  
  

Resources

• Kawachi, I and BP Kennedy. The Health of Nations: Why Inequality if Harmful to Your Health. New York: The New Press, 2002.
• Wilkinson, R. Unhealthy Societies: The Affliction of Inequality. London: Routledge, 1996.
• Wilkinson, R. The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthier. New York: The New Press, 2005.