Europe's governments should set targets to reduce health inequalities

doi:10.1136/bmj.b2075

Published 21 May 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2075
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2075

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Europe’s governments should set targets to reduce health inequalities

Tessa Richards

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The failure of European governments to tackle increasing inequalitiesin health in their populations is due to lack of political willand limited knowledge of what policy interventions work, speakersagreed at a recent meeting in London.

The meeting was organised by the London School of Economicsand the European Commission, which is due to launch a new initiativeto tackle health inequalities across the European Union laterthis year.

Few governments, take health inequalities seriously enough,speakers emphasised. Governments should follow the lead of theNetherlands, which in 1989,adopted a national policy to reducehealth inequalities and is shortly to adopt objective targetsby which progress can be measured.

Health inequalities in the Netherlands are below the EU average,but the gap in life expectancy between those in the highesteducation groups and those in the lowest is still six yearsfor women and seven and seven years for . . . [Full text of this article]

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