NOT ONLY SCIENTISTS, BUT ALSO RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS

Scientific enquiry has provided important insights into the nature of health problems and inequalities in health, allowing us to see the pre ssing problems of individuals and their families from wider perspectiv es, including the social origins of health problems, the life historie s of individuals and important relationships between population health and economic factors. However, science cannot be relied upon to solve these problems. In the last century, doctors advocated public health measures for the good of society that anticipated scientific explanati ons of how the measures would work. Similar advocacy is now needed to address problems of child poverty and social exclusion and their impli cations for society, the economy and public health in the next century .