This book offers a unique multi-disciplinary perspective on tackling health inequalities in a rich country, examining the New Labour policy agenda for tackling health inequalities and its inherent challenges.

Challenging health inequalities: introduction ~ Nick Spencer and Elizabeth Dowler; Progress in tackling health inequalities: a policy maker's perspective ~ Ray Earwicker; Inequalities in mortality rates under New Labour ~ Danny Dorling, Mary Shaw and George Davey Smith; Explaining inequalities in health: theoretical, conceptual and methodological agendas ~ Simon Williams, Michael Calnan and Alan Dolan; Inequalities in pregnancy and early years and the impact across the lifecourse: progress and future challenges ~ Nick Spencer and Catherine Law; Inequalities and ethnicity: evidence and intervention ~ Hannah Bradby and Tarani Chandola; Housing conditions and health ~ David Ormandy; Inequalities in food and nutrition: challenging 'lifestyles' ~ Elizabeth Dowler, Martin Caraher and Paul Lincoln; Behaving badly? Smoking and the role of behaviour change in tackling health inequalities ~ Nick Spencer; Health inequalities and user involvement ~ Jonathan Tritter and Helen Lester; Gilding the ghetto again? Community development approaches to tackling health inequalities ~ Mick Carpenter; A new agenda for social work: tackling health inequalities in physical health ~ Eileen McLeod, Paul Bywaters, Peter Beresford, Suzy Croft and Mark Drakeford; Challenging health inequalities: themes and issues ~ Elizabeth Dowler and Nick Spencer.

"the book benefits from bringing together a wide range of professional and academic experiences that make a valuable contribution to addressing these issues in a contemporary society ... I would recommend this book as a valuable reference resource for departments, teams or organisations" www.pcx.nhs.uk - NHS Patient-Citizen Exchange Newsletter, December 2007

"For any doubters that health inequalities are widening after 10 years of a government committed to reducing them, Challenging Health Inequalities provides the evidence. Notwithstanding some modest successes, the key to reducing health inequalities - income redistribution - has worsened over the decade. As New Labour struggles to renew itself under a new Prime Minister, this book is a timely reminder of the enormity of the challenge confronting it." David J Hunter, Durham University