Addressing Social Determinants of Health Through Intersectoral Actions

This document presents the main findings of a research project requested by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the WHO and the Ministry of Health of Mexico aimed at analyzing certain policy processes of intersectoral approaches in order to identify evidence sustaining the effectiveness of using a SDH approach to design public policies.

First, key programs and policies identified were analysed. Preferentially, programs and policies that explicitly defined intersectoral actions to fulfill their goals were selected. Second, a literature review was conducted based on the following main subjects: papers analyzing an intersectoral approach, public policy analysis, economics of public policy, and the grey policy literature. Its main purpose was to design an analytical framework to assess how intersectoral public policies addressing SDH are designed.

Third, semi-structured interviews were conducted to perform a qualitative analysis of the design and implementation process of the public policies selected, as well as their results. Five categories were used to analyze this information: 1) knowledge of the social determinants of health; 2) intersectoral governance; 3) leadership of the health sector; 4) evidence for decision-making; and 5) economic arguments for intersectoral public policy design and implementation.