Tackling Health Inequalities: Lessons from International Experiences provides a unique perspective on health inequalities in Canada and elsewhere. This exciting new volume brings together experiences from seven wealthy developed nations -- the United States, Australia, Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Finland, Norway, and Sweden -- to analyze their contrasting approaches to reducing avoidable health problems. Some nations are successfully responding to health inequalities, but Canada and the United States are not among them. Why is this, and what can we learn from other nations? Through a political economy lens, Tackling Health Inequalities considers how societal structures and institutions shape the distribution of economic, political, and social resources that affect health disparities amongst the population. The volume then goes on to examine how governing authorities come to either confront or ignore these health inequalities and the conditions that create them. Through these illustrations, it encourages governing authorities that are tackling health inequalities to continue their efforts and directs those that are not -- such as in Canada and elsewhere -- towards what must be done. This groundbreaking text shows the primary lessons from these international experiences: that citizens in Canada and elsewhere need to educate themselves about the importance of tackling health inequalities, and then build the political and social movements that will compel governmental authorities to take action. This volume will serve as a rich resource for professionals and general readers interested in health studies, nursing, social work, public policy, and political economy.

"This book identifies the key targets for intervention through a detailed exploration of the pathways and processes that give rise to health inequalities across the lifecourse. It sets this against an examination of both local practice and the national policy context to establish what works in health inequalities policy, how and why. Authoritative yet accessible, the book provides a comprehensive account of theory, policy and practice. What Works in Tackling Health Inequalities? is essential reading for academics and students in medical sociology, social psychology, social policy and public health, and for policy makers and practitioners working in public health and social exclusion."--BOOK JACKET.

Although environmental health has received some recognition as a field which can positively impact on the social determinants of health, it remains little known outside its immediate sphere of influence. There is also limited literature available to support the potential impact of the profession in public health policy circles, and there has been an overreliance on anecdotal rather than firm evidence. This book presents the findings of an empirical research project focussed on public health policymaking (English Health and Wellbeing Boards), health inequalities and environmental health and provides an insight to the environmental health profession and routes of impact and influence. It discusses environmental health in the context of public health, the role of the profession, issues of visibility and opportunities for impact in today’s policy landscape. In particular, a focus on the local government context is timely given the shifting of the public health function from the National Health Service to local authorities. This book is essential reading for students, practitioners and policymakers in the fields of environmental health and public health.

Addressing health inequalities is a key focus for health and social care organizations. This book explores how best frontline health workers in areas of deprivation can address these problems. Aimed at doctors and their wider multidisciplinary teams, this book provides key knowledge and practical advice on how to address the causes and consequences of health inequalities to achieve better outcomes for patients. Considering the psychological, financial and social aspects of well-being as well as health concerns, this book offers a concise but comprehensive overview of the key issues in health inequalities and, most importantly, how practically to address them. Key Features Comprehensively covers the breadth of subjects identified by RCGP’s work to formulate a curriculum for health inequalities The first book to address the urgent area of causes and consequences of health inequalities in clinical practice. Chapters are authored by expert practitioners with proven experience in each aspect of health care. Applied, practical focus, demonstrating approaches that will work and can be applied in ‘every’ situation of inequality. Provides evidence of how community based primary care can make a change.

Social justice has always been a core value driving public health. Today, much of the etiology of avoidable disease is rooted in inequitable social conditions brought on by disparities in wealth and power and reproduced through ongoing forms of oppression, exploitation, and marginalization. Tackling Health Inequities raises questions and provides a starting point for health practitioners ready to reorient public health practice to address the fundamental causes of health inequities. This reorientation involves restructuring the organization, culture and daily work of public health. Tackling Health Inequities is meant to inspire readers to imagine or envision public health practice and their role in ways that question contemporary thinking and assumptions, as emerging trends, social conditions, and policies generate increasing inequities in health.

The Department of Health has made a serious attempt to tackle health inequalities across England. But having set a target in 2000 to reduce health inequalities, it took time to embed the issue in the policy and planning framework of the NHS and to develop an evidence base of the most cost-effective interventions. Although life expectancy overall has increased, the gap in life expectancy between the national average and the Government's dedicated "spearhead" areas has continued to widen. The Department will not meet its target to reduce the health inequalities gap by 10 per cent by 2010, as measured by life expectancy at birth, if current trends continue. The Department's strategy lacked effective mechanisms to achieve the target because the evidence base was still being developed. Three key, cost-effective interventions to reduce the gap in life expectancy were identified by the Health Inequalities Intervention Tool: increase the prescribing, first, of drugs to control blood pressure and, second, of drugs to reduce cholesterol, by 40 per cent; and double the capacity of smoking cessation services. But these interventions have not yet been used on the scale required. Primary care trusts are required to address health inequalities from within their general budgets and it is not possible to identify how much money has been spent. PCTs in spearhead areas had £230 more per head to spend than the PCTs in non-spearheads, but there is evidence that some of the extra money is absorbed by higher hospital costs in deprived areas.

This report examines why the Department of Health had failed to meet its health inequalities target, the role of GPs, and the lessons of this for the new NHS. Inequalities in health outcomes between the most affluent and disadvantaged members of society are longstanding, deep-seated and have proved difficult to change. In 2004 the Government set the Department the target of reducing the gap in life expectancy between 70 'spearhead' local authorities with high deprivation and the population as a whole by 10 per cent by 2010. The Department has not met this target and has been exceptionally slow to tackle health inequalities. It is of great concern that inequality in health has increased and that the Department took nine years to establish tackling inequalities as an NHS priority. GPs are crucial to improving the health of people in the most deprived areas. However, in many of these areas the number of GPs per head of population is well below the number in more affluent areas. The Department missed an opportunity to use the revised GP contract to ensure more doctors work in deprived areas, and has not focused their attention sufficiently on implementing the key interventions that would make a difference. "Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS" (Cm. 7881, ISBN 9780101788120) set out the Government's long-term vision for the NHS, but it is important that tackling health inequalities does not slip down the Department's agenda whilst the proposed changes are introduced.