Bridging the Divide: Tackling Barriers in the Anthropocene for a Healthier, United Future

The Anthropocene era, marked by unprecedented environmental and social challenges, calls for a deeper examination of the spatial nature of our divisions. To cultivate collective action across race, religion, and class, we must understand how to dismantle local barriers that hinder unity. Climate change is testing national social safety nets by driving migration, straining community resources, and prompting xenophobia. However, these crises also present political opportunities for social movements to challenge the status quo and mobilize activists in the fight for justice. What types of institutional arrangements and policy regimes best support this unity?

The pandemic highlighted the significance of the social determinants of health (SDOH), as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), including access to quality healthcare, education, employment, and safe environments. Over the following decade, increasing data was collected and policies were legislated to address the SDOH. As a scholarly community, we are not lacking data; we now need to collaborate to determine which community services effectively protect health under institutional stress, which support trust in our institutions, and promote civic solidarity.

We provide an analysis of available global SDOH datasets that policymakers can access and introduce a new methodological technique that helps parse complex systems from the local to the national level. This approach aims to answer the critical question: what can be done to support an equitable and peaceful transition for receiving communities into healthier, more diverse forms of themselves, while avoiding the xenophobia and unrest associated with highly segregated societies?