Social determinants of health (SDH) are the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. These include the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, as well as the broader systems that shape these conditions—such as economic policies, social norms, and political structures.
Health inequalities refer to avoidable and unfair differences in health status or in the distribution of health resources between different population groups. These differences are driven largely by unequal access to the social determinants of health.