In February 2010, Fair Society, Healthy Lives recommended action that emphasised the importance of tackling social inequalities in reducing health inequalities – a so-called ‘social determinants’ approach to preventing ill health. The UCL Institute of Health Equity commissioned the London Health Observatory to update the key indicators used to monitor health inequalities, first published in February 2011.
The figures for this year show that life expectancy has improved in most local authorities. http://www.lho.org.uk/LHO_Topics/National_Lead_Areas/Marmot/MarmotIndicators.aspx
However, they also show that the gap in life expectancy between the wealthiest and the most deprived areas has widened for both males and females in the majority of England’s local authorities. The update also reveals around a three per cent improvement across England as a whole in the percentage of children achieving a good level of development at age five.
Your feedback on the Marmot indicators would be very useful. Please take a few minutes to complete a survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Marmotindicators. Alternatively, comments and queries are welcome at lho.enquiries@lho.nhs.uk
Comments