Abstract

Problem setting. Studying the factors that determine health shows that medicine is important along with biogenetic and environmental factors. However, the leading factors of health in modern conditions are the level and quality of life of people, the level of their health culture and lifestyle. This increases the role of researches on social and cultural conditions and determinants of health in the framework of not only medical sciences, but also the sociology of medicine, health and disease, wellness studies. Recent research and publications analysis. Development of the sociology of medicine and health has received significant support after the report of the Minister of Health of Canada M. Lalonde, “A new perspective on the health of Canadians”, in which new strategies of forming a culture of public health and improving the quality of life and people’s well-being were proposed. Sociological analysis of the problems of health and the development of healthcare has been significantly developed in the works of such researchers in Western Europe and North America, as R. Dubo, Т. MacKeown, V. Navarro, I. Illich, E. Friedson, I. Zola, S. Szreter, A. Williams, R. Stevens, K. Winter, A. Titmonas, N. Gail, C. Lafontaine, E. Annandale, D. Mechanic, G. Weiss, K. White, S. Blum, D. Black, H. Freeman, S. Levine, F. Wolinsky, J. Gable, M. Elston, N. Hart, J. Travis and others. Such Russian and Ukrainian scientists have contributed to the development of the sociology of medicine and health, as V. Lupandin, A. Izutkin, A. Sahno, J. Lisicin, N. Vinogradov, V. Dil’man, I. Brehman, G. Caregorodcev, V. Dimov, V. Kochenov, I. Zhuravleva, N. Grigor’eva, K. Habibulin, A. Reshetnikov, E. Dmitrieva, N. Antonova, G. Apanasenko, V. Petlenko, L. Sushhenko, I. Gorbas’, G. Slabkij, V. Moskalenko, T. Gruzeva, O. Cimbrovskij, N. Panina, Y. Golovaha, O. Balakireva, N. Ringach, R. Levin, I. Venirchuk, N. Soboleva, G. Chepurko and others. Paper objective. Consideration of the main problems of modern sociology of health and healthcare as the objects of sociological research. Paper main body. Problem field of the sociology of health and medicine has a wide range of different aspects of the study of values, knowledge, ideas, norms, as well as indicators, conditions and factors of health, its pathologies at the individual, group, national and global levels. Sociology studies the development of healthcare system and medical services from an institutional point of view, considering it as a modern complex institutional phenomenon. An important aspect of sociological analysis of this institution are the manifestations of socio-economic, territorial, gender, ethnic inequality in access to medical care, health improvement and health culture. The manifestations of subnational and global gaps in access to medical care and health improvement are considered by experts as the most acute problems of modern health care. Sociological approach involves understanding the inter-institutional relations of the development of medical and healthcare through the study of their economic, political, legal, cultural, vocational, scientific, technical, information and communicative manifestations. In Ukraine, the sociology of medicine and health shows achievements in the empirical field of research and is progressively developing within the framework of academic science and universities in the medical and sports fields. Actual problems of sociological analysis of the state of health and its preservation are studies of causes of high morbidity and mortality, low birth rates, gender analysis of health and causes of morbidity, issues of the quality and accessibility of medical services, the effectiveness of health care reform, prospects for the development of insurance medicine in Ukraine, ways to increase public health culture. Conclusions of the research. Modern sociology makes an important contribution to health management as a comprehensive area of modern science about problems of public and individual health, institutional foundations of healthcare, trends and prospects for the transformation of medicine and health culture in the context of globalization and internetization of society and implementation of sustainable development strategies. The development of sociology of medicine and health is an important element in the scientific, informational and analytical support of effective policies in the field of maintaining health, improving the welfare of society and people’s happiness.