Tackling health inequalities is a long-standing priority for Government. Policy is focused on narrowing the health gap between disadvantaged groups, communities and the rest of the country and on improving health overall.
Tackling Health Inequalities: A Programme for Action (2003), sets out the targets for a 10-year plan, whilst Tackling Health Inequalities: Status Report on the Programme for Action (2005), reviews progress against the targets.
There are a number of reasons why the health of rural communities requires special research attention:
- the faster ageing of rural populations compared with urban areas,
- the geographic context of social exclusion in rural areas and its impact upon health,
- problems of access to health services in rural areas, and
- the potential impact of organisational change on the delivery of health and related services.
The systematic review of evidence on rurality and health – one of the most comprehensive of its kind - undertaken for the RERC by Dr Jean Peters and Dr Rachel Johnson of ScHAAR, University of Sheffield, paves the way for more focused and more rigorous studies of rural health issues.
