Over the past decade, there has been a sustained campaign to focus on mental health issues and to eliminate prejudice and discrimination in the UK (discrimination was made illegal by the UK Equality Act 2010). In fact, for a long time, many groups and their supporters who suffer from mental health problems have been protesting against the prejudice against mental health issues. Most recently, the Bethlem Museum of the Mind in south London hosted an exhibition entitled 'Impatient', which showcased the 1840s 'Society of the so-called Friends of the Insane'. "In the 1840s the Alleged Lunatics Friends Society staged a number of protests. In recent years, the National Survivor User Network, a British mental health action group, has become a growing force of protest. New voices of protest have emerged, such as Recovery in the Bin, which has challenged the common notion of 'recovery'. These activities have important links with the arts, for example, many people suffering from mental health problems express themselves through poetry. "Time to Change, a campaign to destigmatise mental health issues in England, was launched by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness. The campaign was launched by two organisations, Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, and is funded mainly by Comic Relief. Similar social campaigns have been launched in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, with See Me, Change Your Mind and Time for Change respectively. Time for Change Wales. The campaigns are social movement based, led by groups suffering from mental health problems and make extensive use of the arts.
Public Health England has recently launched a public health campaign (including a television campaign) called Every Mind Matters, which has attracted a lot of attention.
Persistent structural inequalities in society (such as poverty, gender and ethnicity) have led to the emergence of a large number of disadvantaged groups, with a particular impact on health. The public debate on this issue has proliferated, with the most influential being the views of British epidemiologist Professor Michael Marmot. Professor Marmot's latest views on health inequalities will be published this year in a new report, Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review Ten Years On, published jointly by the Health Foundation and the Institute of Health Equity. England: The Marmot Review Ten Years On (2020).
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