So far, issues of health equity have been discussed predominantly in terms of access to health care. These approaches, however, fail to take into account that health is influenced by a wide range of social circumstances and public policies. For example, poverty is still one of the main factors behind health inequalities within and between countries. Any comprehensive approach to health equity t...

SIR—A Korean supreme patriarch died a natural death at 81 years. An author died aged 27 years. Does longevity vary with occupation? We have studied longevity in different occupations in Korea by examining obituary notices in newspapers. We classified socially prominent occupations into 11 groups and investigated 2,143 cases. Because of small numbers, we excluded soldiers, doctors and policemen....