VIRTUAL EVENT: Social justice, health equity and COVID-19
16 September 2020, 10:30 am–12:00 pm
Professor Sir Michael Marmot, lead author of a key report on health inequality in England, will present his research on social justice, health equity and COVID-19.
This event is free.
Event Information
Open to
- All
Availability
- Yes
Cost
- Free
Organiser
-
UCL Faculty of Population Health Sciences
Lecturer's abstract
Taking action to reduce health inequalities is a matter of social justice. 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 and that much can be done in cities, towns and local areas. But policies and interventions must not be confined to the health care system; they need to address the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. The evidence shows that economic circumstances are important, but are not the only drivers of health inequalities.
Tackling the health gap will take action, based on sound evidence, across the whole of society. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed and amplified underlying inequalities in society that lead to inequalities in health.
Join our Q&A
This lecture will be followed by a Q&A. You can submit your questions to us ahead of the event by emailing fphs.pa@ucl.ac.uk or on Twitter @UCLPopHealthSci using the hashtag #UCLPopHealthEvents.
About the Speaker
Professor Sir Michael Marmot
Professor Sir Michael Marmot is Professor of Epidemiology at UCL, Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, and Past President of the World Medical Association.
He is the author of The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world (Bloomsbury: 2015) and Status Syndrome: how your place on the social gradient directly affects your health (Bloomsbury: 2004). Professor Marmot holds the Harvard Lown Professorship for 2014-2017 and is the recipient of the Prince Mahidol Award for Public Health 2015. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from 18 universities.
At the request of the British Government, he conducted the Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England, which published its report 'Fair Society, Healthy Lives' in February 2010. This was followed by the European Review of Social Determinants of Health and the Health Divide, for WHO Euro in 2014. In February 2020, he launched the ‘Marmot Review 10 Years On’ report on the health inequalities across England, which served as an update to the ‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives’ review.