The new UK health inequalities targets

On 28 February last year, the new Labour UK government announced the first ever health inequalities targets for Britain. In the words of the secretary of state for health, Alan Milburn, “these targets represent the most fundamental challenge to the opportunity society we seek to build”. This is clearly a good step forward in the rhetoric of the UK government and should be applauded. As far as we know Blair's cabinet has been the first one in setting such targets and in naming things by their true name: clearly accepting the use of the word inequalities, instead of the euphemistic “variations in health” used by previous UK governments and by the official documents in many other countries.

The commitment of the UK government is, by concentrating their efforts on just two general …