Fresh and Balance respond to Disparities Consensus Paper
Health campaigners in the North East are among 47 organisations and charities calling on the government to prioritise health issues such as smoking and alcohol to reduce the impact they have especially in poorer communities.
Fresh and Balance joined Cancer Research UK, the British Medical Association, Action on Smoking and Health and the Alcohol Health Alliance in calling for the forthcoming Health Disparities White Paper to focus on prevention and health inequalities.
Currently people in the poorest areas of the UK die earlier than those in richer areas with health strongly influenced by social, economic and environmental conditions. All risk factors including smoking and alcohol use are impacted with poorer people more likely to smoke and die from tobacco or alcohol-related conditions.
The Government has set targets to reduce preventable risk factors and transform lives, such as the recent commitment in the Levelling Up White Paper to increase Healthy Life Expectancy by 5 years by 2035. But Health Foundation analysis indicates it would take almost 200 years to reach 5 years of improvement. And according to Cancer Research UK analysis, we are not on track to deliver the Smokefree 2030 ambition until 2037, and the most deprived group won’t reach this target until the mid-2040s.
Smoking is responsible for at least half the difference in life expectancy between the lowest and highest income groups in England with an estimated 8 million deaths since the early 1970s.
For alcohol, liver disease has risen 400% since the 1970s and deaths from alcohol have reached the highest level in 20 years in the UK with the worst rates here in the North East.
Ailsa Rutter OBE Director of Fresh and Balance said: “Tobacco and alcohol are not just health issues but crippling social and economic issues, especially for families and communities here in the North East. They create a huge burden on health and impact on the cost of living and can drive poverty in our region.
“We need action through a new national tobacco plan to reduce smoking further otherwise millions more people will die. And we also need a new evidence-based national alcohol strategy to tackle the huge upsurge in alcohol harms over recent years. Alcohol advertising is everywhere and alcohol harms will continue to spiral so long as people can buy a week’s worth of alcohol for the price of a high street coffee.
“The cost of living is continuing to rise and both alcohol and tobacco will impact on people most in need. We urge the Government to ensure the Health Disparities White Paper prioritises prevention to improve the health of regions like the North East and allow more people to live longer, healthier lives.”