Overview of content

Abstract

The content of this Supplement of Global Health Promotion is abstracted from presentations at the conference ‘Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health’, which was held on 6–7 November 2008, in London. On the first day John Humphrys of the BBC welcomed the participants and introduced each plenary speaker. The speeches they gave are reproduced in the ‘Addresses’ section of this Supplement. Thematerial printed here is substantially the same as was presented at the conference, with some modification to suit print media. The Addresses are published as they were received from the authors. Plenary addresses were also given on the second day of the conference, and they, too, are presented in the Addresses section. All the plenary addresses presented at the conference are published in this Supplement The morning plenary session on 6 November concluded with interviews conducted by Nick Boyd, an international health consultant, with audience participation facilitated by Clive Needle of EuroHealthNet. The interviewees were members of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health of the World Health Organization. Those interviewed were Gail Wilensky, Senior Fellow, Project Hope; and Hoda Rashad, Research Professor at the Social Research Centre of the American University in Cairo. Gail Wilensky presented introductory remarks, which are included in the ‘Interviews’ section of this Supplement. During the 6 November afternoon session, John Humphrys interviewed Robert Madelin, Director General for Health and Consumer Protection, European Commission; Rudolph Cummings, Health Lead, CARICOM; CommissionerMirai Chatterjee, Coordinator of Social Security for India’s SelfEmployed Women’s Association; and Commissioner Giovanni Berlinguer, Member of the European Parliament. Robert Madelin, Mirai Chatterjee and Giovanni Berlinguer presented introductory remarks, which are included in the ‘Interviews’ section of this Supplement. During mid-afternoon, Richard Horton, Editor of The Lancet, chaired a panel session titled ‘Equity through development: a panel discussion on balancing the demands of social and economic development’. The panellists were: Armin Filder, Lead Advisor for Health Policy and Strategy, the World Bank; Peter Scherer, Head of Health Sector, OECD; Asha George, Health Specialist, Community Based Approaches in the Policy and Evidence Unit of the Health Programme Division at UNICEF; Tim Evans, Assistant Director General, WHO; Commissioner Ndioro Ndiaye, Deputy Director General, International Organization for Migration. Peter Scherer, Asha George and Ndioro Ndiaye presented introductory remarks, which are included in the ‘Panels’ section of this Supplement. The first day concluded with a summary of key points from the day’s sessions, presented by Sir Michael Marmot. On 7 November, following a series of plenary addresses in the morning, Fiona Adshead, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Chief Government Advisor of Health Inequalities, Department of