This new lesson plan pulls from the Collateral Damage episode and uses the Marshall Islands as a case study to debate policy approaches to improving population health. In the process, students explore the influence of power and lobbying on policy decisionmaking.

More lesson plans:
•   Disease and Social Policy in the American South: A Case Study of the Pellagra Epidemic
•   Place Matters: Exploring Our Neighborhoods

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• Sir Michael Marmot will chair an independent review for the British government to propose the most effective strategies for reducing health inequalities in the U.K. beginning in 2010, following the final report of the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health.
  
  
• Videos of conference presentations by Sir Michael Marmot and other world experts on health impacts and possible opportunites to restructure societies along more equitable lines are now available online from:
  Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity through Action on the Social Determinants of Health, November 6-7, 2008, in London.
  Health in Times of Global Economic Crisis, April 1-2, 2009, in Oslo, Norway.
  
  
• The RWJF Commission to Build a Healthier America has released its long-awaited report, Beyond Health Care: New Directions to a Healthier America. The Commission's site contains many resources, including a new chart on life expectancy by location and an issue brief on race and socioeconomics.
  
  
• Join the online discussion Dying While Black: Colorblind Policies and Eliminating the Slave Health Deficit, organized by Professor Vernellia Randall of the University of Dayton School of Law, on Saturday, April 25.
  
  
• The Health Policy Institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has launched a new website for its Place Matters Initiative and produced a platform (with Prevention Institute) outlining steps for the new administration and congress to reduce health inequities.
  
  
• Prevention Institute and PolicyLink have released a memo of recommendations for maximizing the health and equity benefits of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
  
  
• Two reports on early childhood development appeared recently:
  Brains of Babes, Jill Eisen's three-part series for CBC Radio One, investigates the roots of illnesses such as heart disease, depression, and diabetes in early childhood environments.
  "Research Links Poor Kids' Stress, Brain Impairment", in the Washington Post, highlights current research by Cornell University's Dr. Gary W. Evans, a member of the MacArthur Network on SES and Health.
  
  
• A recent editorial, published in Alternet, by executive producer Larry Adelman expands upon economist Robert Evan's "repair shop" analogy to illustrate the crucial role that "road conditions" play in determining our health status.
  
  
• The State of Virginia released the report Health Equity... Next Steps for Action, compiling ideas for health equity promotion generated during statewide community screenings of UNNATURAL CAUSES. Their site contains resources for promoting public awareness about health inequities.
  
  

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