Inequalities in health are the result of where you’re born, live, work and grow old | Letter

Our life expectancy is not simply our personal responsibility, writes Jennie Popay Having spent several decades as a researcher in the health equity field, I was irritated to see that well-worn, misleading trope about personal responsibility for poor health being given the oxygen of publicity by the Guardian ( At least 80% responsibility for ill health in old age down to individual, study says, 20 May ). The Oxford Longevity Project’s study gave the impression that the main cause of poor health