Strategy: Together We Can, Public Health Scotland
What are the main points?
- Too many people in Scotland experience preventable ill health and a ‘far too wide’ gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived communities.
- By 2035, Public Health Scotland wants to ‘improve average life expectancy by at least one year’ and ‘narrow the gap between the poorest 20% of areas and the national average’.
- Strategy aims to build a prevention-focused system, improve social and economic conditions, enable healthy living, strengthen places and communities, and provide equitable access to health and care.
- Multifaceted plan includes embedding health into other policy areas, ‘supporting impactful and family wellbeing interventions’, and providing evidence and data that helps partners identify local actions.
EXPERT THOUGHT
Paul Johnston, CEO, Public Health Scotland, wrote: ‘To deliver real, lasting change in Scotland, national and local action must go hand in hand. We also need strong local partnerships that tackle poverty, support children and young people, ensure fair work for all, and help us all live well as we age.’
Image | ISTOCK
