Getting Better

The Policy and Politics of Reducing Health Inequalities

Clare Bambra (Newcastle University), Julia Lynch (University of Pennsylvania), Katherine E. Smith (University of Strathclyde)

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Paperback

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English

Policy Press
27 May 2025

Social services & welfare, criminology

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Health inequality has reached a crisis point. Your income or hometown can have a devastating impact on how well and how long you live. This injustice, exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, continues as the cost of living rises and other sources of inequity grow. What can be done to make things better?

This book, written by the authors behind the award-winning The Unequal Pandemic, explores successful international case studies of governments reducing health inequalities – from the USA and Brazil to Germany and the UK – stretching over fifty years from the 1960s to the 2000s.

Essential reading for students and scholars of public health and the social sciences, and for health and social care professionals and policy makers, this book demonstrates that reducing health inequalities is possible and provides a roadmap for today's governments to follow.

By: Clare Bambra (Newcastle University), Julia Lynch (University of Pennsylvania), Katherine E. Smith (University of Strathclyde)
Imprint: Policy Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781447372868
ISBN 10: 1447372867
Pages: 184
Publication Date: 27 May 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

1. Introduction: Reducing Health Inequalities 2. The Great Society: Social Reform and Health Inequalities in the USA 3. Vote Early, Vote Often: Democratisation in Brazil and Health Inequalities 4. What Belongs Together Will Grow Together: German Reunification and Health Inequalities 5. Things Can Only Get Better: England’s National Health Inequalities Strategy 6. Waxing and Waning: The Three Levellers of Health Inequalities 7. Conclusion: The Politics of Health Inequalities

Clare Bambra is Professor of Public Health at the Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University. Julia Lynch is Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Katherine Smith is Professor of Public Health Policy at the University of Strathclyde.

Reviews for Getting Better: The Policy and Politics of Reducing Health Inequalities

“Recognition that the key determinants of health inequalities lie in the realm of politics and macroeconomics can foster world-weariness, even despair – what to do? This book is an evidence-based counter to despair. It shows, using four case studies, that health inequalities have been reduced by political and social policies. The key message is to continue these life-enhancing policies.” Sir Michael Marmot, UCL Institute of Health Equity “As surely as movements and governments that foster economic, social and participatory democracy reduce health inequities, neoliberal and reactionary regimes increase them. This timely must-read book, examining the US, Brazil, Germany and England, explains why.” Nancy Krieger, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health