A total of 75 recommendations have been made to reduce the 'health gap' between the rich and the poor. The gap has grown during the last few decades. Universal health campaigns, like breast cancer screening, have increased health inequalities as the take-up is much higher amongst the better off.
Smoking is far more common in lower social classes.
His team's recommendations include more water fluoridation, nicotine patches on the NHS, increasing benefits and putting more money into schools and public transport. It will no doubt produce a number of reactions which we shall report in future issues of Health Insight. Meanwhile the National Heart Forum has said the government must act to reduce deaths from heart disease amongst the poor. Professor George Davey Smith of the University of Bristol said the failure to reduce coronary mortality in the lower social classes was due to rising levels of deprivation. The Forum has called for a 'national food plan' to encourage the consumption of fruit and vegetables.