Health Inequalities

Lead person:	Lead PHO: LHO
Senior Public Health Information Analyst
Tel: 020 7685 6792

Health inequalities are unacceptable, unfair differences in health experiences and outcomes between different population groups or communities. They can be experienced across many dimensions, including by age, sex, ethnicity, geography, disability and socio-economic status. Inequity exists throughout the health system, from causes to outcomes, and includes inequalities in:

Health outcomes, such as life expectancy or incidence of disease – life expectancy at birth for males in Blackpool is over ten years less than it is in Kensington and Chelsea.

Access to services, such as health care - older people have been shown to have poorer access to health services even when they have the same need as a younger person.

Lifestyle factors, such as smoking or diet – people living in the lowest income households have the highest rates of smoking prevalence.

Health inequalities are also influenced by many social determinants, such as education, employment and housing.

For more information about this topic, please look at the topic on the LHO web site.

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