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Director of Public Health Annual Report 2016 – ‘Living Well for Longer the Case for Prevention’

Becky Pollard, Director of Public Health at Bristol City Council has published her annual report for 2016 – ‘Living Well for Longer the Case for Prevention’.

Read the full report here: http://bit.ly/2bH1udx

The report sets out “a clear ‘case for prevention’ or ‘early intervention’ to reduce early death and disability and set out a challenge to strengthen collective action across the city to create healthier, more resilient and sustainable communities.” The report explores and describes:

  • the overall health of people in Bristol by looking at life expectancy (how long people can expect to live) and healthy life expectancy (how long people can expect to live in good health);
  • the variation in health experience between different groups in the community and the main diseases and lifestyle behaviours, which contribute to the inequalities in health that we see today;
  • the main factors which influence our health and wellbeing throughout our lives – detailing the relative impacts of modifiable health determinants including social and economic factors (such as education, employment, income, family and social support), health behaviours (lifestyles), clinical care and the physical (built) environment;
  • the 4:4:48 prevention model which describes the four modifiable lifestyle behaviours that contribute towards the four main diseases, which contribute to nearly half of all premature deaths in the city;
  • the costs of unhealthy lifestyles behaviours to individuals and the wider community and brings together evidence what we can do to improve health and wellbeing.

The report concludes with its author setting out “five recommendations for how Bristol City Council and its key stakeholders can help turn the tide of increasing inequalities in health by scaling up public health action to tackle smoking and tobacco, poor diet, alcohol misuse and lack of physical activity”.

Healthwatch Bristol is keen to hear your feedback on the report and the issues it covers. Please get in touch: info@healthwatchbristol.co.uk

Read the full report here: http://bit.ly/2bH1udx