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" A health economist has suggested that the government is &amp;quot;inconsistent&amp;quot; in its use of health targets, concealing the extent to which its policies aid the richest rather than the poorest members of society.  Allan Low, together with director of public health Anne Low, criticised the &amp;quot;lack of transparency&amp;quot; used by the Department of Health to calculate health gaps in this week&amp;#039;s issue of the British Medical Journal.  Whereas infant deaths and life expectancy use relative gaps and are expressed in percentage terms, deaths from cancer and circulatory disease are discussed in terms of absolute gaps - shown as the real difference between two figures.  &amp;quot;Most descriptions of the national inequality targets do not specify whether the reductions required are relative or absolute, as if it does not matter&#133; we have shown why it does matter,&amp;quot; the report authors wrote.  Health targets are calculated on a class basis, designed to reduce the gap between the richest and the poorest &#150; but the report claims that misuse of statistics results is a &amp;quot;misleading view of progress&amp;quot;.  The health experts also complain that using relative gaps had &amp;quot;resulted in confusion over how to establish local health improvement targets&amp;quot;.  By measuring health gaps between groups rather than within groups the authors believe a &amp;quot;more inclusive rating system&amp;quot; would be achieved. \u00A9 Adfero Ltd "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a13617/uk-health-policies-help-rich-most/>