Differences in health status between different population groups, or in the personal, social, economic, and environmental factors that influence health status. Health inequalities can be described as ‘the preventable, unfair and unjust differences in health status between groups, populations or individuals that arise from the unequal distribution of social, environmental and economic conditions within societies’. In England, health inequalities are often discussed in terms of the stark differences in life expectancy between people living in deprived areas and those in wealthier areas of the country. (NHS England 2020b)

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