Prof Sir Michael Marmot (Professor of Epidemiology at UCL since 1985, where he set up the Whitehall II and Ageing Longitudinal Studies) inter alia conducted the British Government’s 2008 Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England post 2010 [‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives’ (2010)], followed by the European Review of Social Determinants of Health and the Health Divide (2014). He was author of The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world (2015), and recently published Health Equity in England: Marmot Review 10 Years On (2020). He chaired the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (2005) reported in ‘Closing the Gap in a Generation’ (2008) and is Advisor to the WHO Director-General. He was President of the BMA and the WMA. A more detailed biosketch listing his past and current activities and numerous honours and awards, can be accessed here.
In his talk he will explain how addressing health inequalities is social justice, and that strategies for tackling health inequalities need to confront the social gradient in health not just the worst off and everybody else. National policies make a difference. Much can be done, but policies and interventions need to address how people are born, grow, live, work and age. Economic circumstances are important but not sole drivers of health inequalities. Resolving the health gap needs evidence based action across society. The pandemic has exposed and amplified underlying inequalities in society that lead to inequalities in health. A full abstract of his talk can be accessed here.
You can watch a recording of the event here.