Ethics, justice, and the social determinants of health

Abstract

As noted in the Introduction, in order to evaluate the ethical implications of the issue at hand, the epidemiologic evidence base regarding the social determinants of health must be laid out in sufficient detail. This first chapter offers a broad overview of some of this evidence in order to lay the groundwork needed to draw out many of the key ethical issues that arise in evaluating and ordering public health priorities based on the social determinants of health.