Marmot 10 years on: austerity has damaged nation’s health, say experts

The UK prime minister must lead a national strategy for reducing health inequalities that have widened after a decade of austerity, a 10 year update to the landmark Marmot review has concluded.

The update to Michael Marmot’s 2010 review1 found that the UK has been moving in “the wrong direction” on almost all of the report’s original recommendations for creating a fairer society and reducing health inequalities.2

In the past 10 years health inequalities have widened, health as a whole has deteriorated, and life expectancy has stalled for the first time since 1900. Among the poorest 10% of women life expectancy has declined, in the latest review findings by Marmot and colleagues …