#21 How power shapes health (in)equity - with Professor Sharon Friel

<p>Today I speak with <a href="https://researchprofiles.anu.edu.au/en/persons/sharon-friel">Professor Sharon Friel</a>. Sharon is an ARC Laureate Fellow, Professor of Health Equity and Director of the Menzies Centre for Health Governance at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet), Australian National University. Her research focuses on the political economy of health; governance and the planetary, social and commercial determinants of health inequities. Her 2019 book &ldquo;Climate Change and the People&rsquo;s Health&rdquo; highlights the importance of addressing the global consumptogenic system.</p> <p>Today we spoke about some of her recent work with colleagues called Power and People&rsquo;s Health. We often talk about the social determinants of health &ndash; what structural or social factors lead to health or ill-health. We&rsquo;ve been talking about it for decades. That social and health policy, as well as health governance, needs to look beyond the health system, towards social policies in housing, planning, trade, including policies that are controlled and implemented by local communities. But despite decades of research supporting this, it doesn&rsquo;t happen. Power. That is something we often speak about when discussing why the social order remains in tact to the benefit and disadvantage of different communities and sectors. Reading Power and People&rsquo;s Health, and talking with Sharon today, I saw for the first time a framework that can help us examine, in empirical terms, how power sustains the racism, sexism and neoliberal ideologies that continue to undermine health and the health system.</p> <p><strong>Show-notes:</strong></p> <p>Power and People's Health:&nbsp;<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34192622/">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34192622/</a>&nbsp;(DM Simon/author if you can't get copy)</p> <p>Menzies Centre for Health Governance:&nbsp;<a href="https://regnet.anu.edu.au/research/centres/menzies-centre-health-governance">https://regnet.anu.ed