Public health policy: Between victim blaming and the nanny state ‐ will the third way work?

Abstract

The green paper Our Healthier Nation sets out an ambitious agenda to increase life expectancy for all in England and to specifically decrease inequalities in health. It uses the idea of a ‘contract’ between government and people as a legitimating concept for the actions necessary to achieve specific targets in the areas of cardiovascular disease, cancers, accidents and mental health. This contract eschews sole reliance on either a materialist structuralist or a lifestyle change prescription for health and defines itself as a ‘third way’. What are the chances that this public health policy will succeed where its predecessor The Health of the Nation failed? This article explores the similarities and differences between the green paper and the earlier policy, collates evidence on effectiveness of social, environmental, individual and organisational approaches to public health and discusses the likely chances of policy success from a yet to be articulated third way to health.