Unnatural Causes
Is Inequality Making Us Sick?
www.unnaturalcauses.org/

The Documentary Series
Unnatural Causes will, for the first time on television, sound 
the alarm about America's glaring socio-economic and racial 
inequities in health--and search for their root causes. The 
four-hour series (for PBS broadcast and DVD release) sifts 
through the evidence suggesting there is more to our health than 
bad habits, health care, or unlucky genes. The social conditions 
in which we are born, live and work profoundly affect our health 
and longevity

A National Crisis
Experts of all political stripes agree: our medical system is 
strained to the breaking point. We spend almost twice as much 
per person on health care than any other country, more than 15% 
of our GDP. Yet American life expectancy ranks 30th in the 
world. Our infant mortality rate is tied with Hungary, Poland, 
and Slovakia for next to last among industrialized countries. 
One out of every three Americans is obese, and illnesses cost 
American businesses $260 billion per year in lost 
productivity... Learn more >>
The Public Impact Campaign

Unnatural Causes aims to reframe the debate over health by 
stimulating a national dialog about what we as a society 
can--and should--do to tackle our health inequities. The goals 
of this Public Impact Campaign are challenging but 
straightforward: to introduce equity and social justice into 
discussions of health, and to inject health consequences into 
debates over our social and economic policies...

THE PUBLIC IMPACT CAMPAIGN
Moving Upstream
www.unnaturalcauses.org/campaign.html

The broadcast and DVD release of Unnatural Causes provide a 
powerful opportunity to help reframe the national debate over 
health and what we as a society can--and should--do to reduce 
our alarming health disparities.  The Public Impact Campaign 
will promote a new and hopeful approach to population health. It 
will link our individual aspirations for better health not only 
to medical and lifestyle interventions but to "upstream" 
policies--investing in our schools, improving housing, 
integrating neighborhoods, creating living wage jobs with career 
ladders, even more equitable fiscal policies.

The series, the campaign and accompanying tools are being 
developed in tandem with initiatives led by the Health Policy 
Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic 
Studies, the National Association of County and City Health 
Officials, the American Public Health Association, The Praxis 
Project and others.  They and our other outreach partners are 
laying plans to utilize the series and accompanying tools to 
introduce equity and social justice into discussion of health 
and conversely, inject health consequences into debates over 
social and economic policies.  Join us.
THE FOUR LEGS OF THE PUBLIC IMPACT CAMPAIGN
I. Reaching the Press

An ambitious media campaign is reaching beyond TV critics to 
engage opinion leader media, columnists, health media, ethnic 
media, and constituency media in radio, print, web and TV in 
debate over the messages of the series, while giving a platform 
to some of its key spokespeople.
II. Targeted Outreach

Dozens of outreach partners are organizing screenings, town 
meetings, forums and trainings to educate and advocate for 
health equity in these arenas:

     * Engaging Elected Officials and the Policy Community: 
Change from Within
     * Mobilizing Public Health Organizations: Building the New 
Consensus
     * Partnerships with Non-Health Stakeholders (e.g. labor, 
housing, racial justice, child development, faith-based and 
others): Broadening the Coalition
     * Highlighting Community Health Equity Initiatives: 
Pressure from Below

III. Companion Web Site

The series’ companion web site (now under construction; this 
site is a temporary, 'placeholder' web site) will serve as a hub 
for campaign participants and a unique on-line gathering place 
for those interested in learning—and doing—more.  It will 
feature interactivities, policy suggestions, a Community Action 
Tool-Kit, webcasts and podcasts, discussion guides, lesson 
plans, fact sheets and other resources.
IV. Educational Dissemination

California Newsreel’s nationally recognized video and DVD 
distribution will place the series and ancillary materials into 
high schools, colleges, health centers, medical schools and 
non-formal institutions of learning around the country.