THE HEALTH GAP: THE CHALLENGE OF AN UNEQUAL WORLD

Abstract

In his book, The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Un- equal World, Michael Marmot develops his already fa- mous and important argument on the impact that soci- eties’ socio-economic characteristics have on the health of their populations. Presenting a study aimed at a wide range of readers, beyond the barriers of the academic and scientific community, Marmot seeks to answer this broad question: “what we can do to improve people’s lives?” (p. 21). Using a wealth of data from his own stud- ies as well as recent literature from various fields of re- search, the book argues that the conditions in which people live are key influences on their health. However, it is necessary to go beyond this general observation. As the author suggests, the book can be understood as a reflection on the paradox of contem- porary population health. If, on the one hand, we live at a time where there is a significant improvement in over- all health, on the other hand, good health is unevenly distributed. Global health inequality has reached a very high level. Moreover, in many countries health ineq- uity is growing, with the health of better off population groups progressing faster than that of worse off groups. Major contemporary scientific and technical advances have been made, but access to these advances is ex- tremely unequal. In