ABSTRACT

SINCE THE LATE 1990s the British government has pushed forward a major reform programme with an agenda to reduce poverty, social exclusion and health inequalities between people (Department of Health 2003). The prime method by which it has striven to achieve these goals has been through a revitalisation of public health. Public health today, as in Victorian times, recognises that the origins of many health problems are environmental and social, not medical; and many, such as illegal drugs and tobacco, can only be tackled through international consensus by governments. In 2002 Derek Wanless reported that the National Health Service could not afford to continue to treat the sick at its current level indefinitely, the solution was the prevention of illness and the promotion of health (HM Treasury 2002; 2004). Public health has become an economic imperative.