For too long public health has been paying insufficient attention to promoting health in the socially marginalized. The WFPHA Resolution on Prison Health is the first statement by an international public health organization advocating that those who have lost their freedom and who are compulsorily detained in prisons or detention centres are a challenging marginalized group in all societies for which something needs to be and can be done. The Federation based its Resolution supporting greater public health awareness of prison health on three facts: first, human rights including the right to health applies to everyone; second, there is a very strong public health case for priority action because in every country the greatest proportion of people with life threatening illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis are to be found in their prisons; and third, because WHO Europe has shown that countries coming together to exchange experiences and to discuss possible improvements can make a worthwhile contribution to the health of a vulnerable and often hard to reach group, to tackling serious public health problems and thus to improve community health and reduce health inequalities. The responsibility for providing access to health care for those in detention is the member States. The provision of health care in prisons is complex and the range of services to be provided and the maintenance of their quality are issues to be tackled. In most circumstances and especially when there are real shortages of resources such as professionally qualified health staff, experience from the WHO Europe health in prisons programme has shown that that all can take important first steps such as to make sure that prison health is not isolated from the public health services and that coming together to learn from each other through dialogue can lead to worthwhile improvements. This session will hear from international experts about each of the facts on which the Federation’s Resolution is based: for example, why there cannot be an ‘undeserving’ group denied the right to health; the real public health challenge in every country arising from collecting together and the retention of vulnerable people with severe health problems which if not treated add to the burden of disease in the community; and about the achievements from the WHO network of some 45 countries of Europe coming together to prepare consensus advice on improvements in prison health. The session will conclude with a call for a global dialogue on prison health, bringing together those responsible for prison services and those with health care responsibilities. The aim is to ensure that every prison and detention centre in the world has access to what Nelson Mandela has mentioned as a ‘sympathetic physician’; nowadays, health teams working closely with prison staff but professionally independent can do so much to improve health in prisons and so help public health for all.