Ill-health and deprivation: How we can address health inequalities in left behind neighbourhoods

We have long known that the health of people living in deprived areas is worse than the national average. But this raises important questions, such as how big is the gap? Is it narrowing or growing over time? Are some deprived places worse off than others? And how do health inequalities affect economic performance?

In this article, from Policy@Manchester's Power in Place publication, Dr Luke Munford our NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (ARC-GM) Deputy Lead for Economic Sustainability, looks at those disparities in greater detail.

• Men and women living in left behind neighbourhoods live, respectively, 3.7 years and 3 years fewer than average. This gap in life expectancy has been widening.
• Tackling these health disparities will not only improve the lives of millions of citizens, it will also bring significant savings to the taxpayer.
• The Levelling Up strategy must include a strand on reducing spatial health disparities through targeting multiple neighbourhood, community and healthcare factors.

You can access the full blog from the Policy@Manchester site here