Responding to Professor Sir Michael Marmot’s comments today on life expectancy and health inequalities in the UK, Professor Derek Bell, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, said:
“This is a worrying assessment from Prof Sir Michael Marmot on the state of the nation’s health, with a slowdown to improvements in life expectancy in the UK and an increase in health inequalities. We support his calls for the UK Government to treat these health problems with great urgency and undertake further research to ascertain the causes. This research can be used to ensure that any initiatives to address the problems have strong evidence to support them and are thoroughly evaluated for outcome.
“We need to improve the circumstances which lead to poor health or social exclusion, and this College calls for action to improve the social and economic conditions in which people live with policies that address the social determinants of ill health.”
Notes
Contact: Lisa Rooke - 0131 247 3688 / l.rooke@rcpe.ac.uk
