Integrating the social and solidarity economy into global health: towards structural transformation for equity, resilience, and sustainability

Abstract Global health is shaped by complex and interdependent challenges across social, commercial, environmental, technological, and political domains that cannot be solved by the health sector alone. In response, alternative economic models and paradigms have gained attention. The concept of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE)—formally recognized in a 2023 United Nations resolution—has emerged as a promising approach. This paper examines how SSE has been addressed in global health scholarship and explores its potential contributions to equity, resilience, and sustainability, not simply as a normative framework but to provide an institutional approach to realize these norms. To illustrate this potential, we focus on migration health, a key global health agenda that highlights how multiple determinants of health interact to influence the health of populations. Migration health exemplifies how SSE’s inclusive and solidarity-based practices can engage with these determinants while promoting cross-border learning and advocacy for more equitable, resilient, and sustainable systems. We conducted a targeted literature review to examine the extent to which SSE has been addressed in global health scholarship, followed by an analytic mapping of SSE contributions to social, commercial, and environmental determinants of health, as well as to cross-cutting areas of advocacy and reform. The review shows that explicit engagement with SSE in global health literature remains scarce. Nonetheless, illustrative examples demonstrate that SSE initiatives can reduce inequalities, create inclusive employment, strengthen community networks, counter harmful commercial practices, and promote sustainable food, energy, and housing systems. These examples highlight SSE’s capacity to address determinants of health in ways that conventional approaches often overlook, and to address the lack of traction experienced by other transformative frameworks. We argue that, although SSE remains marginal in global health discourse, it holds substantial and underrecognized potential as an integrative and community-driven approach for advancing equity, resilience, and sustainability. Recognizing and embedding SSE within global health frameworks is both timely and necessary for addressing the diverse determinants that shape population health. Noting why previous equity-oriented health and economic frameworks have struggled to achieve structural change, we situate SSE within this broader question of accountability in global health governance.