Access to justice research over two decades has documented the health-harming effects of unmet legal needs. There is growing evidence of bidirectional links between law and health demonstrating that social problems with a legal dimension can exacerbate or create ill health and, conversely that ill-health can create legal problems. Independently, social epidemiological research documents gross and widening inequalities in health, largely explained by social determinants such as income, housing, employment, and education. Although legal issues are embedded in most social determinants of health, law has been largely invisible in social determinants discourse, research and interventions. This article argues that legal services have an important role to play in mitigating many of the socio-economic determinants that disproportionately impact the health of low income and vulnerable groups. It describes the international practitioner-led movement of Health Justice Partnership through which lawyers work with healthcare teams to address the root causes of ill health rather than focusing on physical and psychological manifestations of negative social determinants. Finally, the article attempts to delineate the evolving field of health justice, advancing a transdisciplinary research agenda that could strengthen both public health and access to justice research by moving beyond the limitations of single discipline approaches. Noting the vigorous policy emphasis in law and health on prevention and partnership to address the twin challenges of access to justice and health inequalities, the article ends with a plea for policy coordination that acknowledges shared responsibility across government for improving the health of the public.

中文翻译：

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当法律有益于您的健康时：通过诉诸司法减轻健康的社会决定因素

二十多年来的司法救助研究记录了未满足的法律需求对健康的危害。越来越多的证据表明，法律与健康之间存在双向联系，这表明具有法律层面的社会问题会加剧或造成健康问题，相反，健康问题会导致法律问题。独立地，社会流行病学研究记录了健康方面的严重不平等和不断扩大的不平等，主要是由收入、住房、就业和教育等社会决定因素来解释的。尽管法律问题嵌入在大多数健康的社会决定因素中，但在社会决定因素的论述、研究和干预中，法律基本上是隐形的。本文认为，法律服务在减轻许多对低收入和弱势群体健康造成不成比例影响的社会经济决定因素方面可以发挥重要作用。它描述了国际从业者主导的健康正义伙伴关系运动，通过该运动，律师与医疗保健团队合作解决健康不佳的根本原因，而不是关注负面社会决定因素的生理和心理表现。最后，本文试图描绘不断发展的健康正义领域，推进跨学科研究议程，通过超越单一学科方法的局限性，加强公共卫生和司法救助研究。