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Wellesley Institute works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

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Michael Shapcott

Health inequalities gap widening in the UK

Health inequalities (the differences in health between the rich and the poor) are growing wider in the United Kingdom. That’s the sobering news in the latest status report from the UK Department of Health titled “Tackling Health Inequalities” (released on March 13, 2008).

Sir Michael Marmot, recognized as one of the leading global experts on the social determinants of health, says that there are some encouraging signs in the midst of the overall bad news.

The problem is not with the timelines or the indicators that the government has adopted to measure its progress in reducing health inequalities, according to policy experts, including Professor Danny Dorling of the University of Sheffield. He says that inequalities are now at “unprecedented levels” and that the government needs to commit the resources and show the political will to tackle the growing burden of health inequalities.

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Michael Shapcott

Michael Shapcott

Michael Shapcott is Director, Affordable Housing and Social Innovation at Wellesley Institute. Michael has worked extensively in Toronto, in many parts of Canada, nationally and internationally on social innovation, the non-profit sector, civic engagement, housing and housing rights, poverty, social exclusion, urban health and health equity. He is recognized as one of Canada’s leading community-based housing and homelessness experts. He is currently on secondment to the Princes' Charities Canada.

Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Revised by the Ceremonial Committee at the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Initiatives in April 2021.