ABSTRACT:
Inequalities in health within and between countries are a significant and unacceptable feature of the global health scene. The WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (chaired by Michael Marmot) took the view that health inequalities can be tackled by action on the underlying social determinants of health. Health inequalities that are avoidable or remediable are inequitable and addressing them is amatter of social justice.
The Commission on Social Determinants of Health was set up by the World Health Organisation to collate global evidence, raise societal debate and recommend policies with the goal of improving health and  reducing health inequalities between groups. A major thrust of the Commission is turning public health knowledge into political action. In developing strategies for tackling health inequalities we need to confront the social gradient in health not just the difference between the worst off and everybody else. There is clear evidence when we look across countries that national policies make a difference. But policies must not be confined to the health care system, they need to address the conditions in which people grow, live and work. The evidence shows that economic circumstances are important but are not the only drivers of health inequalities. The Commission on Social Determinants of Health has brought together  evidence to show that political action to improve the conditions in  which people lead their lives is the route to health equity.  

PROFILE Professor Sir Michael G. Marmot MBBS, MPH, PhD, FRCP, FFPHM, FMedSci, FBA Director: International Institute for Society and Health;MRC Research Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London,Michael Marmot has led a research group on health inequalities for the past 30 years.  He is Principal Investigator of the Whitehall Studies of British civil servants, investigating explanations for the striking inverse social gradient in morbidity and mortality. He leads the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and is engaged in several international research efforts on the social determinants of health.  He chairs the Department of Health Scientific Reference Group on tackling health inequalities.  He was a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution for six years.  He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy.  In 2000 he was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen for services to Epidemiology and understanding health inequalities.  Internationally acclaimed, Professor Marmot was a Vice President of the Academia Europaea, and is a Foreign Associate Member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM).  He was Chair of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health set up by the World Health Organization in 2005: ‘Closing the Gap in a Generation’.  Professor Marmot won the Balzan Prize for Epidemiology in 2004, gave the Harveian Oration in 2006 and won the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research in 2008.  At the request of the British Government, he conducted a review of health inequalities, which published its report 'Fair Society, Healthy Lives' in February 2010. He has now been invited by the Regional Director of WHO Euro to conduct a European review of health inequalities.  Sir Michael will be president of the British Medical Association (BMA) 2010-2011.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gheg/marmotreview