A growing sense that health disparities are widening in many countries sparked the development of the book Challenging Inequities in Health: From Ethics to Action (Ed. Evans, Whitehead, Diderichsen, Bhuiya and Wirth, Oxford University Press 2001). This newly published volume presents 21 chapters worth of cutting edge research and policy analysis to a wide non specialist readership of students, profession-als and decision-makers. It brings together in one volume new perspectives on the conceptual foundations of health equity, empirical evidence on the scale and nature of the inequities in health in twelve countries around the world, and assessments of the associated policy developments and their implications for the future. Above all, the volume takes the position that health equity is a matter of social justice.

The authors aim to help build global capacity to measure, monitor and interpret developments in health equity at a national and international level. The in depth country analyses draw on epidemiology, demography, economics and other fields to approach health inequalities from several different angles. The topics covered range from adolescent livelihoods in Tanzania to the health burden of indigenous peoples in Mexico, from health equity in Japan to the gender gap in life expectancy in Russia. The book is a unique demonstration of global cooperation in bringing together and giving equal weight to work on health equity carried out in the southern and northern hemispheres.