In this groundbreaking book Michael Marmot president of the World Medical Association reveals social injustice to be the greatest threat to global health In Baltimores innercity neighborhood of UptonDruid Heights a mans life expectancy is sixtythree not far away in the Greater Roland ParkPoplar neighborhood life expectancy is eightythree. The same twentyyear avoidable disparity exists in the Calton and Lenzie neighborhoods of Glasgow and in other cities around the world. In Sierra Leone one in 21 fifteenyearold women will die in her fertile years of a maternalrelated cause in Italy the figure is one in 17100 but in the United States which spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world it is one in 1800 and now with the new administration chipping away at Obamacare the statistics stand to grow even more devastating. Why Dramatic differences in health are not a simple matter of rich and poor poverty alone doesnt drive ill health but inequality does. Indeed suicide heart disease lung disease obesity and diabetes for example are all linked to social disadvantage. In every country people at relative social disadvantage suffer health disadvantage and shorter lives. Within countries the higher the social status of individuals the better their health. These health inequalities defy the usual explanations. Conventional approaches to improving health have emphasized access to technical solutions and changes in the behavior of individuals but these methods only go so far. What really makes a difference is creating the conditions for people to have control over their lives to have the power to live as they want. Empowerment is the key to reducing health inequality and thereby improving the health of everyone. Marmot emphasizes that the rate of illness of a society as a whole determines how well it functions the greater the health inequity the greater the dysfunction. Marmot underscores that we have the tools and resources materially to improve levels of health fo