IPPH Glossary of Key Terms
Global public health is focused on transnational public health issues and global health inequities. Global public health research also addresses the systemic forces (i.e. economic, social, cultural, environmental, or political) that shape these issues – forces that no single country can solve.
Health equity is the absence of unfair, avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically or by other dimensions of inequality (e.g. sex, gender, ethnicity, disability, or sexual orientation). Health is a fundamental human right. Health equity is achieved when everyone can attain their full potential for health and well-being. (World Health Organization).
Pillar 4 research has the goal of better understanding the roles of social, cultural, environmental, occupational and/or economic factors in shaping the health of Canadian and global populations.
Population health research refers to the study of why some groups or populations are healthier than others. Population health researchers study how determinants (social, economic, environmental, and biological) influence the health outcomes of groups of people rather than individuals. Population health research seeks to identify patterns, policies and interventions that can improve health outcomes and/or reduce inequities between populations.
Public health is the organized effort of society to keep people healthy and prevent injury, illness and premature death. It is a combination of programmes, services and policies that protect and promote the health of all Canadians (CPHA; Kumar, 2023).
Differentiation with medical care: Medical care treats individual people who are sick. Public health, on the other hand, focuses on the prevention of illness in populations. In contrast to public health services, clinical/ medical care services involve direct interactions between a provider and patient, such as diagnosing, treating, and managing health conditions in clinical settings. Medical/clinical care research (with the exception of research on preventive care) does not fall within the IPPH mandate.
Social inequities in health are systematic differences in health between different population groups based on their social position. These inequities are socially produced (and therefore modifiable) and unfair. (Whitehead, 1990).
Social (proximal) determinants of health are the social conditions under which people are born, grow, live, love, work, and age, and include factors such as education, employment, social support networks, and gender.
Structural (distal) determinants of health are more broadly defined as the larger societal, economic, ecological, and political contexts which shape the (proximal) social determinants and, in turn, population health and well-being. This includes examining how structural drivers (e.g., systems, structures, legislation, policies, ecological and commercial determinants, etc.) can impact population health equity.
Climate Justice research is focused on research at the intersection of health equity and climate change. This includes the inequitable distribution of the burdens of climate change on health between/across population groups; and/or climate change mitigation efforts to reduce the health impacts of populations in Canada or globally.
Public health systems (PHS) are governmental and non-governmental entities – including national, provincial, territorial, Indigenous, municipal and community-based organizations – that deliver core public health functions within a jurisdiction. They are essential for disease prevention, health promotion, improving population health and equity, supporting health system sustainability, and preparing for and responding to public health emergencies.
Public health systems and services research (PHSSR) examines how to best organize, govern, fund and sustain PHS and services while evaluating their positive and negative impacts on population health. The applied/translational nature of PHSSR helps inform public health practice and policy, while being responsive to real-world public health priorities and agendas.
Core functions of public health include health promotion, disease prevention, population health assessment, health surveillance, health protection, and emergency preparedness and response.
Building blocks of public health systems are defined as: public health governance, finance and workforce arrangements; policies and service delivery models, systems or frameworks; data, information systems and technologies.
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