Poor Health: Social Inequality before and after the Black Report

Health inequalities have re-emerged as a major issue in the 21st century. Yet the past history of this subject has been little understood. What causes health inequalities? How can they be tackled? This work explores how health inequalities have been examined in the past, and the policy record in treating them. The focus is on how health inequality has been dealt with since the founding of the National Health Service in 1948. Despite the egalitarian aspirations of its founders, the NHS seems to have had little effect on levels of health inequality. One key effort to understand why was the 1980 Black Report. This was probably the most extensive effort to address the problem in post-war Britain. Yet what has been its legacy? Was it, as alleged at the time, "suppressed" by the Thatcher government? And what can current policymakers learn from its findings? The contributors to this volume, both those involved in the development and objectives of health policy in Britain and academic specialists in socialhealth inequalities, tell the story of Black and its legacy.