Learn How Social Conditions Affect Health:
Earn Continuing Education or Transferable University Credit Online by Studying the Unnatural Causes Film Series
Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? is a four-hour documentary series that sounds the alarm about our glaring socio-economic and racial health inequities -- and searches for solutions. Unnatural Causes is produced by California Newsreel with Vital Pictures. Check your local PBS listings for show times. The series is now available for pre-order from www.newsreel.org and will be widely available via DVD, online study, and rebroadcasts.
The US spends twice as much on health care as any other wealthy country, yet our life expectancy is 30th in the world and our infant mortality is 26th. While we pour more and more money into drugs, dietary supplements and new medical technologies, 20 years of research shows that there is much more to our health than bad habits, health care or unlucky genes. It is social conditions—the circumstances into which we are born, live and work—more than any other factor, that affect our chances for a healthy life or an early death.
Unnatural Causes provides a powerful tool to help reframe the national debate over health inequities. People concerned about health inequities, and particularly those involved with the health professions or public health, will want to deeply engage the content of this series. Unnatural Causes will fundamentally reshape how we think about health and illness. Most importantly, it points toward what we as individuals and as a society can—and should—do to set things right.
As a contribution to shifting the national dialog on health, a collaborative of organizations are sponsoring ways to study Unnatural Causes and health equity in further depth online. Licensed health professionals can simply view the documentary series for continuing education credits; and anyone including undergraduate and graduate students can study more deeply for university credit.
For background information on the Unnatural Causes film series and public impact campaign, visit the companion website at www.unnaturalcauses.org.
These educational opportunities are coordinated by Community Health Works, a partnership of SF State and City College of San Francisco, Departments of Health Education, together with SF State Extended Learning.
