Five years ago Ministers invited Sir Donald Acheson to undertake an independent review of inequalities of health in England. The initial inquiry was set up to contribute to the development of the Government's strategy for health and action on inequalities.

Now, following an approach by Sir Donald Acheson to hold a review of progress since the 1998 Inquiry, the event entitled "The Acheson Inquiry Five Years on: Has the Gap Been Narrowed?" organised by Warwick's Institute of Health, is set to debate to what extent health inequalities have been reduced and to identify ways forward in terms of policy and practice. Chaired by Sir Donald Acheson the conference is designed to provide a platform to capture state of the art thinking on tackling inequalities in health.

'Beyond beer, fags and chips' is the title of one of the plenary sessions that will examine lay expertise and another talk by Professor George Davey Smith is analysing what has been happening to inequalities in death under New Labour. Workshops are to tackle pressing topics such as ethnicity and health inequalities, food and nutrition, the impact of housing conditions on health and inequities pathways and provision of mental health care.

Professor Nick Spencer, from the University of Warwick, said: "Despite recent reductions in child poverty, child poverty rates in the UK remain amongst the highest in rich nations, and this is especially concerning as childhood disadvantage stretches into adult life, as well as affecting health and well-being during childhood itself."

"The conference seeks to move beyond the Acheson report and to address the policy initiatives and future research that could improve the population's health. More
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Contact: Jenny Murray
jennifer.murray@warwick.ac.uk
University of Warwick
12-Dec-2003