Watt R G
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 6BT.
Br Dent J. 2017 Nov;223(7):478-480. doi: 10.1038/sj.bdj.2017.785. Epub 2017 Oct 3.
At least 80 people died in the recent Grenfell Tower fire in Kensington and Chelsea, West London. This incident has provoked much anger, debate and reflection on how such a tragedy could happen in London, one of the richest cities in the world. Seen through a public health lens, this disaster is ultimately about social inequality in modern Britain. Kensington and Chelsea is a deeply divided community, where many billionaires and very wealthy people live cheek by jowl with poor and disenfranchised people struggling to make ends meet. It is therefore not a surprise that such a terrible incident should happen in this socially unequal setting where very stark health inequalities already exist. This paper explores some of the broader underlying factors that may have contributed to this tragedy, the political determinants of health. As these factors are linked to both general and oral health inequalities, the lessons learnt from this incident have direct relevance and salience to oral health professionals concerned about tackling social inequalities in contemporary society.
最近在伦敦西部肯辛顿和切尔西发生的格伦费尔塔火灾造成至少80人死亡。这起事件引发了诸多愤怒、辩论以及对这样一场悲剧如何会在世界上最富裕的城市之一伦敦发生的反思。从公共卫生的角度来看，这场灾难归根结底是关于现代英国的社会不平等。肯辛顿和切尔西是一个分化严重的社区，许多亿万富翁和非常富有的人与那些为维持生计而苦苦挣扎的贫困和无权者毗邻而居。因此，在这个已经存在明显健康不平等的社会不平等环境中发生如此可怕的事件也就不足为奇了。本文探讨了一些可能导致这场悲剧的更广泛的潜在因素，即健康的政治决定因素。由于这些因素与一般健康不平等和口腔健康不平等都有关联，从这起事件中吸取的教训对于关注解决当代社会社会不平等问题的口腔健康专业人员具有直接的相关性和重要性。
