Educating the Canadian public about the social determinants of health: the time for local public health action is now!

Despite Canada's history of developing health promotion and population health concepts, Canada falls behind other wealthy nations in having these ideas implemented in the form of public policy that strengthens the social determinants of health (SDH). Much of this has to do with the lack of awareness by Canadians about the SDH that stems from the lack of media reporting on the determinants of health and the unwillingness of most local public health units across Canada to raise these issues in a consistent manner. Canada is not unique in this situation. If the public health community in Canada is to live up to its self-professed mission of improving the health of Canadians it must undertake to educate the public about the SDH as effectively as it took on the task of educating the public of the importance of not smoking, of exercising and adopting a healthy diet.