In this December issue we have the pleasure of introducing our readers to the important recently launched report Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity Through Action on the Social Determinants of Health. It contains the main conclusions of the work under the responsibility of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH). Tony Blakely, a JECH Associate Editor, states in an editorial that “The CSDH report has the potential to become a landmark document, in much the same way that Alma Ata was 30 years ago”. JECH editors see this report as a strong mandate for action by all those people concerned with the social determinants of health and the health inequities. (page 1018)

Two special papers follow the editorial. In the evidence based public health section, Marmot and Friel, CSDH chair and staff, respectively, “expand the discourse about the types of evidence with which to inform policy and practice that will address global health inequity through action on the social determinants of health”. (page …