Centre for Health PolicyNew research project: Targeting health inequalities - May 2023

Centre Co-Director, Professor Kat Smith, has just begun working on a new Health Foundation funded project examining the potential of health inequalities targets to help achieve reductions in health inequalities. The project, led by Professor Clare Bambra at the University of Newcastle, will reflect on previous targets have performed (e.g. those set for England by the Labour Governments in power 1997-2010 as well as more global examples), setting out the strengths and limitations of contrasting approaches and considering some of the conceptual and measurement issues, before developing a series of options of new health inequalities targets. The aim is to identify targets for reducing health inequalities that are sufficiently sensitive to change to be feasible policy goals for a specific administration, which will function to coalesce and strengthen efforts to reduce health inequalities. This work is being developed in the context of recent data suggesting the UK has experienced a decline in life expectancy and a widening of health inequalities.