The Social Determinants of Health Taskforce for Baltimore City, led by the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), works to identify and examine the conditions in which individuals are born, grow, live, work, and age and that are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources, whether globally, nationally, or locally.

These attributes, also known as the social determinants of health, are seen as primarily responsible for what are called health inequities: the unfair and unavoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries.

Background

On May 15, 2018, Gov. Larry Hogan approved the creation of the Social Determinants of Health Taskforce for Baltimore City proposed in the Maryland State Assembly. The primary sponsor for the bill was Sen. Shirley Pulliam, who represents Maryland’s 44th Legislative District and chairs the Senate’s subcommittee on minority health disparities of the Health and Government Operations Committee.