Social justice and health equity

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Contributor(s): Professor Sir Michael Marmot | In LSE Health's Annual Lecture, kicking off the centre’s 30th anniversary celebration, Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology at University College London and Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, will outline why the need to reduce inequalities in health is a matter of social justice. In developing strategies for tackling health inequalities we need to confront the social gradient in health, not just the difference between the worst off and everybody else. There is clear evidence when we look across countries that national policies make a difference and that much can be done in cities, towns and local areas. But policies and interventions must not be confined to the health care system; they need to address the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. The evidence shows that economic circumstances are important, but they are not the only drivers of health inequalities. Tackling the health gap will take action, based on sound evidence, across the whole of society.