Critical Reflections on Public Health, Policy and Social Change Toward Healthy Societies; Comment on "How to Build Healthy Societies: A Thematic Analysis of Relevant Conceptual Frameworks"

Nambiar and colleagues in this journal identify the main conceptual frameworks offered by public health on <i>how</i> to build healthy societies, drawn from key documents published over a span of 50 years. In their analysis they point to strengths and limitations of these frameworks and offer suggestions for their improvement. In this commentary, I argue that both the frameworks on offer and Nambiar and colleagues' critique are missing important perspectives on well-being itself, on the role of the democratic State, and on the "community arena" and the "policy arena" as two related but distinct arenas for political and social change toward healthy societies.