Poverty and equity matter

As the cover suggests, the theme of this week's BMJ is poverty-specifically, socioeconomic deprivation and its relationship to health. Richard Wilkinson-the main proponent of the hypothesis that in developed countries mortality is affected more by relative than absolute living standards-outlines the arguments on p 591, while in their editorial Andy Haines and Richard Smith urge doctors to play their part by prodding governments and international agencies to take poverty-and equity-seriously (p 529).

Four research papers also address the issue directly or indirectly. Morrison and colleagues show how the number …