The widening gap: Health inequalities and policy in Britain

Description

The health gap continues to get wider. This text presents up-to-date evidence on the size of the health gap between different groups of people living in Britain, and the extent to which the gap is widening. It challenges whether the government is concerned enough about reducing inequalities and highlights the living conditions of the million people living in the areas of worst health in Britain. It presents explanations for the widening health gap, and addresses the implications of this major social dilemma.

George Davey Smith is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Bristol. Daniel Dorling is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Sheffield. David Gordon is Professor of Social Justice at the University of Bristol. Mary Shaw is Reader in Medical Sociology at the University of Bristol.

"... their analysis of the potential impact of current government policies on inequalities in health is enlightening." BMJ "It makes an excellent contribution to our understanding of health inequality in Britain and provides a useful contibution to the policy debate." Cambridge University Press "When Tony Blair tours the North to show the wide variations within regions as well as between them, and when Alan Milburn declares commitment to tackling inequalites in heart disease as part of making a fairer society generally, then you know something has touched a chord. It is rare for an academic work to have such an effect on media and ministers, but the Widening Gap has done just this." John Nicholson, Chief Executive, UK Public Health Association "... a challenge and a lesson for all who are working to reduce inequalities in health." BMJ "... a brilliant book. ... provides a marvellous template for similar efforts to investigate the worst and best-health million in other countries around the world." International Journal of Epidemiology "The book draws together evidence on social inequalities in health ... there is much in this book to be commended ... it will be widely read and quoted ... The book gives well-deserved attention to ... often overlooked issues." The Lancet "The study was the most comprehensive examination of the geographic distribution of health and life chances in the UK since the Black report and its findings are stark." SPS research.