Health inequalities targeted with intervention tool available online
Mark Fairey/Dreamstime.com
Interventions such as smoking cessation can be modelled using the
tool to help address health inequalities |
An interactive tool to help primary care trusts, practice-based commissioners and local councils improve life expectancy has been launched by the Department of Health.
The Health
Inequalities Intervention Tool allows areas with low life
expectancies (designated as spearhead local authorities) to identify
the diseases that are driving local gaps in life expectancy, the interventions
that will have the greatest effect in reducing the gap and the impact
implementing these interventions will have on local life expectancy.
The
tool specifically considers interventions to reduce infant mortality,
smoking cessation, and both antihypertensive and statin prescribing in
people without diagnosed cardiovascular disease.
Developed by the London Health Observatory and Yorkshire and Humber Public
Health Observatory — and accessible via the health inequalities
section of the LHO
website — the tool provides
information on gaps in life
expectancy between spearhead local authorities and England and a breakdown
of the causes of the life expectancy gap by disease type and age.
Bobbie Jacobson, vice-chairman of the Association of Public Health Observatories
and LHO director, said: “Our tool is the first of its kind to provide
hard-edged, local evidence to planners and commissioners, on the causes
of their life expectancy gap and how it can be reduced. The tool is easy
to use and saves local agencies time and analytical effort. More importantly,
we hope it will help spearhead authorities to close the gap.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Acrobat
Reader