Structural determinants of health

The structural determinants of health are the written and unwritten rules that create, maintain, or eliminate patterns of durable and hierarchical patterns of advantage among socially constructed groups. Structural determinants manifest current power relationships. Structural determinants take the form of values, beliefs, world views, culture and norms; governance; laws, policies, regulations and budgets; and institutional practices.^{Let’s Talk: Determinants of health1 Heller, J. C., Givens, M. L., Johnson, S. P., & Kindig, D. A. (2024).2}