The Marmot review 'Fair Society, Healthy Lives' looked at how local and national government should tackle health inequalities and showed how tackling the social determinants of health (the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age), can reduce health inequalities. Whilst acknowledging that chronic disease management is very important in reducing health inequalities, Marmot describes how more systematic work is needed in medium term interventions like lifestyle behaviour change, and long term interventions on the wider determinants of health.

Marmot describes six policy objectives:

• Give every child the best start in life;
• Enable all children, young people and adults to maximise their capabilities and have control over their lives;
• Create fair employment and good work for all;
• Ensure a healthy standard of living for all;
• Create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities; and
• Strengthen the role and impact of ill health prevention.