Inequality causing 550 deaths per day

Sir Michael Marmot has highlighted the impact of social and health inequalities in causing 200,000 premature deaths in the UK, reports The Guardian. He said;

“If this was caused by a pollutant, there would be people on the streets saying ‘stop it now’. The irony is that the cause is pin-pointable. It is the inequalities in the conditions [in which] we are born, grow, live, work and age, and it’s damaging the health of us all. It is costing us 550 lives a day in the UK alone.”

Sir Marmot, who is soon to become president of the World Medical Association, has also written for The Guardian, in a separate article, drawing on his latest book, 'The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World'. He describes the high number of premature deaths as 'a calamity for each of us, potentially, and a tragedy for the nation' and goes on to say; 

'We should demand action. The cause is inequality in the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age; and inequities in power, money and resources that give rise to this inequality.' 

In 2008, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies published Criminal Obsessions: Why Harm Matters More than Crime and remains one of our most downloaded publications. The essays discuss how social harm relates to social and economical inequalities. Contributors to the edited collection include Danny Dorling, Dave Gordon, Paddy Hillyard, Christina Pantazis, Simon Pemberton and Steve Tombs.