Overview

The overwhelming message of the EPH-conference is that taking health inequalities seriously demands a portfolio of approaches. Regulating health behaviour is neither a choice for liberalism (self- regulation) nor for paternalism (interventionism). Regulation and fiscal policies are essential but they must be accompanied by measures to empower people and to hold accountable those (policy-makers at local, national and European levels) who may make populations vulnerable. These policy-makers would have benefited greatly from listening to the discussions among public health researchers at the EPH in Glasgow. It is now our task to take these messages to them.