Could do better

A major review for the WHO published in the Lancet maps health inequalities in the 53 states of the WHO European region.  Commissioned to support development of the WHO's new health policy framework for Europe, Health 2020, the review highlights substantial variations between and within states.  Lead author, Professor Sir Michael Marmot stressed the importance of attending to the issue:  "health inequality needs to be one of the main criteria by which we assess the effectiveness of countries’ health systems, and the effectiveness of government as a whole."