International report highlights health inequalities in Glasgow and Scotland

The World Health Organization published "Closing the gap in a generation : health equity through action on the social determinants of health" on 28th August.

From the WHO press release:
A child born in a Glasgow, Scotland suburb can expect a life 28 years shorter than another living only 13 kilometres away. A girl in Lesotho is likely to live 42 years less than another in Japan. In Sweden, the risk of a woman dying during pregnancy and childbirth is 1 in 17 400; in Afghanistan, the odds are 1 in 8. Biology does not explain any of this. Instead, the differences between - and within - countries result from the social environment where people are born, live, grow, work and age.

These "social determinants of health" have been the focus of a three-year investigation by an eminent group of policy makers, academics, former heads of state and former ministers of health. Together, they comprise the World Health Organization's Commission on the Social Determinants of Health."

WHO news release “Inequities are killing people on a "grand scale" reports WHO's Commission” available here

Report & background material here