To evaluate one’s health, insurance companies might need to ask what one’s daily consumption of wine is. Studies have indeed shown that wine consumption and health are closely correlated. The question however remains in what direction causality goes: is wine drinking healthy or are healthy people drinking more wine? Because wine consumption is associated to a balanced and comfortable lifestyle, the latter seems more accurate: the circumstances in which one grows lives and works determine one’s health and the possibilities to fight illness and disability. So not wine, but social position create health inequalities. This World Health Organisation report scrutinizes what can be done to promote health equity in different countries, including Belgium, and suggests three principles of action to closing the gap in one generation.

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