Living on the edge - health inequalities and rising costs

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

“The way to get economic growth in a sustainable way is to improve the income of the bottom 60% of the population.”

How does the cost-of-living crisis affect the health of the public? What impact does financial stress have on our physical and mental wellbeing? This episode aims to reshape the narrative and create a clearer understanding of the growing economic and health problems affecting millions of people living in the UK.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot (Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity) and Jack Monroe (award-winning food writer, TV presenter, and campaigner) explain why there are health inequalities in our society and how the cost-of-living crisis disproportionally affects people on lower incomes. They outline the challenges faced by those living in poverty and what changes are required to safeguard our future against this mounting humanitarian crisis.

GUESTS

Professor Sir Michael Marmot is Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity and Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health. Michael has worked on health inequalities for nearly 50 years. He chaired the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, several WHO Regional Commissions, and has led influential reviews and reports on tackling health inequality for governments in the UK. He is the Advisor to the WHO director-general, on social determinants of health, and supports a network of local authorities in England, working in-depth to develop a 'Marmot' approach. Most recently Michael was conferred Companion of Honour in the New Year’s Honours list 2022, for services to public health.

Jack Monroe is an award-winning food writer, TV presenter, and a campaigner against hunger and poverty in the UK. She is author of the bestselling cookbooks: Good Food For Bad Days, Tin Can Cook, Vegan (ish), Cooking on a Bootstrap and A Girl Called Jack. She was awarded the Fortnum and Mason Judges' Choice Award in 2013 and the OFM Best Food Personality Readers' Award in 2018. She has given evidence to parliamentary inquiries and consulted on the School Food Plan and National Food Strategy. Jack has also developed a new price index, The Vimes Boots index, to measure the cost of basic foodstuffs and inflation as it affects those on the lowest incomes.

Follow Jack Monroe on Twitter @BootstrapCook and Instagram @jack_monroe

Read The Business of Health Equity: The Marmot Review for Industry report here.

Production Credits:
Public Health Disrupted with Rochelle Burgess and Xand van Tulleken is a podcast from UCL Health of the Public. Recorded remotely and edited by Annabelle Buckland at Decibelle Creative / @decibelle_creative.