Tackling health inequalities

On average, people in Derry City and Strabane have among the worst health outcomes in Northern Ireland and people in the most deprived areas of Derry City & Strabane have worse health outcomes than other places in the council district.  

It’s an illustration of the systemic differences in the health status of different population groups that we call health inequalities. Around the world, social factors, including education, employment status, income level, gender and ethnicity have a marked influence on how healthy a person is.  With the right policies these unfair differences in health outcomes can be reduced.

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But you can’t solve health inequalities if you don’t understand the issues at play. While academic research can shed light on common factors, we work in the most under-represented areas to understand the local picture and advocate for evidence-led solutions.

We have been instrumental in bringing together data for Skeoge, a newly-developed area with a high proportion of social housing, that gives a more rounded understanding of how unique, local, factors contribute to unique health challenges.

And with the right data, you can really get to the root of health inequalities and improve conditions in which people live, learn, work, and play, especially when you work together. Our work  the Western Diabetes Group in response to local figures for diabetes and pre-diabetes has led to action that has included everything from targeted workshops with people at risk of developing diabetes to the development of new referral pathways for pre-diabetes.