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RESOURCES
“The Social Lens”
Tools. Knowledge. Support.
Everything you need to understand, act on, and survive the work of health equity.
📚RESOURCES
Tools. Knowledge. Support.
Everything you need to understand, act on, and survive the work of health equity.
❗ Why Inequality Is a Clinical Issue
Health inequality isn’t an abstract concept. It’s showing up every day—in our clinics, our hospitals, our waiting rooms. And it’s showing up in the lives of our patients.
In the UK—one of the richest countries in the world—4.2 million children live in poverty, with nearly 2 million going hungry. Inequality is not a side issue. It is the main story of health in our time.
- 🚨 A child in poverty is twice as likely to die and three times more likely to be injured than a child from a wealthy background.
- 📉 In London, your life expectancy can drop by up to 20 years depending on your postcode.
- 🏥 Black men in the UK were three times more likely to die of COVID-19 than White men of the same age.
These aren’t outliers. They’re symptoms of a system that is structured—often unintentionally—to favour some and fail others
Clinicians are trained to diagnose disease. But what if the disease is inequality itself?
What if our current model of medicine, focused on individual biology, is missing the real diagnosis?
To understand health inequalities, we need to look through the social lens: at poverty, housing, racism, education, income. These are the social determinants of health—and they shape everything from diagnosis to discharge.
The deeper problem? These inequalities are not caused by bad luck or bad choices. They are caused by rules, systems, and power. And when we ignore that, we risk making things worse.
💔 Why This Matters
Yes, health inequality shortens lives. But even if it didn’t, it would still matter.
As clinicians, we are part of the system. That means we are also part of the solution.
If we want change, we must:
- Understand our role in reproducing inequality (even unintentionally)
- Learn to spot structural injustice in our day-to-day practice
- Use our influence—however small—to advocate for fairer systems
The old idea that health professionals can stay neutral in the face of inequality? That’s outdated—and dangerous.
Health needs social justice. And clinicians need the tools to make it real.
Ready to Go Deeper?
📖 WHAM LIBRARY
Knowledge that shifts perspectives.
A curated collection of:
- Must-read articles on health inequality
- Radical academic pieces made readable
- WHAMinars & keynote recordings
- Our own zines, publications, and learning summaries
For those hungry to think deeper and act smarter.
🔧 WHAM VAULT
Tools for Action.
A curated collection of:
- Equity-oriented QI templates
- Audit checklists for social determinants
- Script prompts for brave clinical conversations
- "M.A.D." tools to help you Make A Difference
Built by clinicians who got tired of waiting for permission.
“
Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman"
