Media release

Doctors urged to tackle 'causes of causes' of ill health

Doctors have a role in addressing the ‘causes of the causes’ of illnesses that lead to social inequalities in health, medical leaders from Australia and overseas will hear at a special Symposium in Sydney today.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, President of the British Medical Association and an internationally acclaimed researcher into the social determinants of health, will give a presentation at the Medical Leadership: The View from Down Under Symposium on the ‘Medical Profession and Health Inequalities’.

Sir Michael said that addressing the dramatic and avoidable social inequalities in health involved action not primarily through the health care system, but action on the social determinants of health – the circumstances in which people are born, work, live, grow and age.

“Doctors can tackle health inequalities by addressing the causes of the causes of ill health when they see their patients,” Sir Michael said.

“For example, if smoking is a cause of ill health, what causes people to smoke?”

“In the words of German doctor Rudolf Virchow, considered one of the founders of social medicine, physicians are the “natural attorneys of the poor” and have a role in tackling the social determinants of health.”

International evidence shows that social determinants impact on health outcomes.

This includes the report of the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health, ‘Closing the Gap in a Generation’, and the English review, ‘Fair
Society, Healthy Lives’, both of which were led by Sir Michael.

“The study of health and its unfair distribution helps us understand about the good society and human flourishing, and shows how doctors can help to reduce the inequalities in health by addressing what causes the causes that lead to illness in their patients,” Sir Michael said.

The Medical Leadership: The View from Down Under Symposium is being hosted by the AMA, the World Medical Association, and the New Zealand Medical Association at the
Westin Hotel, Sydney.

The full Symposium program is available at www.ama.com.au/wma

To arrange an interview with Sir Michael Marmot or any of the speakers or panellists, please contact Geraldine Kurukchi on 0427 209 753.


5 April 2011

CONTACT: Geraldine Kurukchi 0427 209 753

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