The Geography of Poverty and Ill-Health

Abstract

The object of this paper is to review the significance of some recent work on inequalities in health for the development of better health policies both locally and nationally. There are a number of different groups undertaking research within the City of Bristol (for example, the University’s Mental Health, Child Health, Geography, Sociology and Botany departments and the School for Advanced Urban Studies; the International Centre for Child Studies, and the City’s Environmental Health Department). This paper draws on that work but draws particularly on a recent programme of research into the relationship between ‘health and deprivation’ by a team in the Department of Social Administration. Some of the results and implications of that research partly undertaken in collaboration with outside bodies — in the North of England and in London as well as in the City of Bristol, will be reported.