This book offers a unique multi-disciplinary perspective on tackling health inequalities in a rich country, examining the New Labour policy agenda for tackling health inequalities and its inherent challenges.
The book presents an overview of progress since the publication of the seminal and ambitious 1998 Acheson Inquiry into health inequalities, and the theoretical and methodological issues underpinning health inequalities. The contributors consider the determinants of inequality - for example, early childhood experience and ethnicity - the factors that mediate the relationship between determinants and health - nutrition, housing and health behaviour - and the sectoral policy interventions in user involvement, local area partnership working and social work.
Challenging health inequalities offers a combination of broad analysis of progress from differing perspectives and will be key reading to academics, students and policy makers.
Challenging health inequalities: introduction ~ Nick Spencer and Elizabeth Dowler; Progress in tackling health inequalities: a policy maker's perspective ~ Ray Earwicker; Inequalities in mortality rates under New Labour ~ Danny Dorling, Mary Shaw and George Davey Smith; Explaining inequalities in health: theoretical, conceptual and methodological agendas ~ Simon Williams, Michael Calnan and Alan Dolan; Inequalities in pregnancy and early years and the impact across the lifecourse: progress and future challenges ~ Nick Spencer and Catherine Law; Inequalities and ethnicity: evidence and intervention ~ Hannah Bradby and Tarani Chandola; Housing conditions and health ~ David Ormandy; Inequalities in food and nutrition: challenging 'lifestyles' ~ Elizabeth Dowler, Martin Caraher and Paul Lincoln; Behaving badly? Smoking and the role of behaviour change in tackling health inequalities ~ Nick Spencer; Health inequalities and user involvement ~ Jonathan Tritter and Helen Lester; Gilding the ghetto again? Community development approaches to tackling health inequalities ~ Mick Carpenter; A new agenda for social work: tackling health inequalities in physical health ~ Eileen McLeod, Paul Bywaters, Peter Beresford, Suzy Croft and Mark Drakeford; Challenging health inequalities: themes and issues ~ Elizabeth Dowler and Nick Spencer.
