"Health inequalities and social determinants of health - Must we choose between improving overall levels of health and reducing inequalities in health?"

Abstract

There has been a rising public health focus on health inequalities as these are unfair, avoidable to some extent, pose an economic burden on society, and may affect all society through spillover effects. This thesis explores the driving factors of health inequalities through the SDH approach, mainly relying on the theory of fundamental causes. In the empirical part, SDH-life expectancy relation in an EU framework is examined complemented by the concept of Preston curve.