A child's chance of surviving to its first birthday relates to the country of birth of its mother, as figure 3 shows. Figure 4 shows how men's social class can influence their chances of dying from lung cancer before the age of retirement. Figure 5 shows how some areas are hit harder by deaths before the age of 65. Parts of Tyne Tees, Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and London have some of the highest rates of early death, whilst most of East Anglia and the South West have the lowest. The Government recognises that the social causes of ill health and the inequalities which stem from them must be acknowledged and acted on.
Connected problems require joined-up solutions.
This means tackling inequality which stems from poverty, poor housing, pollution, low educational standards, joblessness and low pay. We will seek to improve the absolute and relative positions of those people and areas which are hit hardest by poor health and premature death. That will narrow the gap between them and the better off . If people are too ill to work or to participate in everyday social life, isolated from the mainstream opportunities by illness or disability, then they can become socially excluded. There are sound and hard-headed business reasons for making our health better.