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Health inequalities in the UK in 2020: Ten years on from the Marmot Review
Experts from UCL’s Institute of Health Equity are informing strategies to address health inequalities that have worsened during coronavirus and which go beyond problems in health care systems.
7 October 2020
During the coronavirus pandemic, England recorded more excess deaths per million population than almost every other European country. A disproportionate number of people who died were from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups.
In 2010, the UK government commissioned Professor Michael Marmot (UCL Institute of Health Equity) to review what government, together with society as a whole, could do to reduce health inequalities.
A decade later, before the coronavirus pandemic, he published a follow-on report that assessed progress and made recommendations for further action, informed by indicator analyses carried out in the intervening years.
““COVID-19 has exposed and amplified the underlying inequalities in our society that have led to inequalities in health.”
The new report provides evidence that national policies can make a difference. But Professor Marmot asserts we could have done more, and sooner: “Austerity measures have hindered progress, reducing support for communities, and hitting socially disadvantaged individuals the hardest.
“COVID-19 has exposed and amplified these underlying inequalities in our society that have led to inequalities in health. In developing strategies to tackle health inequalities we need to confront the social gradient in health, not just the difference between those worst off and everybody else,” he asserts.
The reports both make clear that policies and interventions must go beyond the health care system, to address the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.
Professor Marmot warns that even before the pandemic the UK was falling behind the rest of Europe on measures of human development, such as life expectancy.
“Countries which fared better during the pandemic are those that do better than England on measures of inclusiveness and personal security. We need to take action at a variety of levels to address issues such as structural racism, inclusiveness, food security, housing and equitable employment.
Watch Professor Michael Marmot speaking on ‘Social justice, health equity and COVID-19 in a UCL Population Health Sciences webinar
