It is the underlying social conditions, not just health inequalities that must be addressed if the much touted ‘levelling up’ is to be addressed, Professor Sir Michael Marmot explains in this typically blunt and well-explained blog for the Royal College of Physicians. Marmot’s Health equity in England: the Marmot review 10 years on, looked at progress towards a fairer society, on the very eve of the pandemic. Here he reflects on its impact.

The blog marks the launch by the RCP of the Inequalities in Health Alliance which brings together medical, cultural, scientific and social organisations to campaign for a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities. Will this, as it claims, “change the national conversation on health inequalities and lead to actions”? We hope so.