Evolution of the determinants of health, health policy, and health information systems in Canada.

Abstract

The history of health determinants in Canada influenced both the direction of data gathering about population health and government policies designed to improve health. Two competing movements marked these changes. The idea of health promotion grew out of the 1974 Lalonde report, which recognized that determinants of health went beyond traditional public health and medical care, and argued for the importance of socioeconomic factors. Research on health inequalities was led by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research in the 1980s, which produced evidence of health inequalities along socioeconomic lines and argued for policy efforts in early child development. Both movements have shaped current information gathering and the policies that have come to be labeled "population health."