Action On Poverty Today Issue 08 Spring 2005

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

The Group of Eight has become a central actor in global governance with a steadily expanding role and agenda. The leaders' summits remain at the apex of the G8 system, but the leaders' work is complemented by intensifying and expanding networks of ministerial fora as well as various task forces and expert groups. Some of these entities, initially launched by the leaders, have taken on a life of their own with an agenda that diverges from the main concerns of the summits. Following on from Hajnal's acclaimed book The G7/G8 System, this volume discusses the origins, characteristics, evolution, role and agenda of the G7 and G8 system, including a systematic survey of its components. It introduces the major debates about the G7 and G8, looks at proposals to reform the G8-G20 and provides a detailed study of the complex, elusive and changing patterns of documentation of the broader G8-G20 system, including electronic information.

Drawing on econometric evidence and in-depth studies of West Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, this book explores how horizontal inequalities - ethnic, religious or racial - are a source of violent conflict and how political, economic and cultural status inequalities have contributed. Policies to reverse inequality would reduce these risks.