Underlying causes of illness often stem from factors beyond the health sector, cautions the WHO. Its World Report on Social Determinants of Health Equity report highlights that social determinants like a lack of quality housing, education, and job opportunities can dramatically reduce healthy life expectancy in high- and low-income countries, sometimes by decades. The WHO stresses that social determinants of health equity can influence people’s health outcomes more than genetic influences or access to healthcare. For example, in the country with the lowest life expectancy, people will, on average, live 33 years shorter than individuals born in the country with the highest life expectancy.
