A renewed focus on and an increase in funding for public health services is badly needed if the current decline in the nation’s health and the widening of health inequalities are to be reversed, is the message from numerous organisations this September.
Organisations, including the UK’s medical colleges, the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH), Action on Salt, Sustain, The Food Foundation, the British Heart Foundation and over 30 other health charities, are calling on the government to prioritise policies that improve the health of the nation.
Securing our Healthy Future: Prevention is better than cure, a report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Faculty of Public Health, and supported by the 24 members of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, focuses on the importance of preventing ill-health in children
With the authors noting that, “the window for making the greatest — and most cost-effective — impact on health across the life course is in childhood, starting from pregnancy”.
The report contains recommendations to the government focusing on healthy weight, oral health, vaccinations, clean air, and mental health, all of which if not tackled in childhood may lead to long-term ill-health in adulthood.
Full article in The Lowdown, 23 September 2023