N.O. suggested as health lab

A commission of the World Health Organization could use New Orleans as a laboratory to study whether making exercise paths, playgrounds and fresh fruits and vegetables available in poor neighborhoods might help to alleviate some of the health problems associated with poverty.

Commission members spent three days in New Orleans this week touring damaged areas and meeting with Mayor Ray Nagin and the director of the city health department. While they have made no commitments to the city, members said New Orleans exemplifies the connection between health status and social status they are trying to address.

Dr. David Satcher, a former surgeon general who now heads the World Health Organization's Commission on Social Determinants of Health, said policymakers often equate poor population health in places like Louisiana -- with its high rates of obesity, diabetes and infant mortality -- with lack of access to doctors, nurses and hospital beds.

While those factors are important, Satcher says they are not the whole story. His commission is encouraging lawmakers to address the underlying social factors that predispose many poor people to bad health.

"The point we're trying to make is that the need to target social determinants of health, including housing, education, working and learning conditions, whether people are exposed to toxins," Satcher said. "We believe New Orleans illustrates that point better than any place we can think of right now."

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