Page after page sledgehammers the message that the poorer you are, the more likely you are to live a shorter, less healthy and in all likelihood less happy life.But this is not a simple matter of rich and poor. In every country, people who suffer from social disadvantage also face health disadvantage. Within countries, the higher pvc Fascia Board Suppliers the social status of individuals, the better their health. Educational outcome is typically linked to the kind of of job you get or whether you have a job at all, if you have enough money to get by, and the choices you make about smoking, drinking and lifestyle.Such vivid imagery coupled with a style that engages and entertains even as it informs is what makes Marmot’s magnum opus of nearly 400 pages such compelling reading even if you are not a public health expert. A simple growth in gross domestic product alone will not reduce the health gap. His answer — medical care, and even public health, have little to do with life expectancy. Let us, for the moment, assume it is true. Countries that have an overwhelmingly healthy population have got there by not just addressing the healthcare delivery system but many of the factors that impact health and which are outside the health sector. However, to Marmot, to blame homicide or other violent deaths on lack of medical care is a bit like blaming broken windows on a lack of suppliers of new window panes.

There is an example of a Mexican scheme, where cash subsidies are given so families will take their children to clinics and keep them in school. He is professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, current president of the World Medical Association and chaired the Commission on Social Determinants of Health set up by the World Health Organisation in 2005. To find out how countries have successfully reduced such a gap, read the book.The Health Gap is of great relevance to Indians as it comes ar a time when many in policy circles view improvements in health through the prism of technical solutions alone — improved medical care, sanitation and control of disease vectors. Clearly, education is a form of empowerment, leading to better jobs, pay, conditions and health.Marmot’s book rests on the thesis that social injustice is bad for our health and an excessive focus on lifestyle and personal responsibility misses the point. 

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