David Oliver: The government’s “levelling up” agenda has gone into reverse gear

On 29 September the Guardian reported that England’s new health and social care secretary, Thérèse Coffey, was to scrap the long promised government white paper on reducing health inequalities.1 This U turn came only days after the World Health Organization had published a key report on preventing non-communicable diseases (NCDs)2: it estimated that 74% of the world’s deaths each year were caused by NCDs, with 86% of those deaths counted as “premature” (in people under 70). Several heads of state had already signed up to an NCD compact to save 50 million lives by 2030.3Some 77% of deaths from NCDs in the WHO report were in low and middle income countries. But high income, developed nations such as the UK are not exempt, especially our more deprived communities.4 The UK has substantial variation in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, much of it accounted for by potentially preventable NCDs, inextricably…
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