Sick people: UK has worst life expectancy rate in Europe
Published time: 11 Sep, 2017 © Luke MacGregor / Reuters AddThis Sharing Buttons Share to Facebook442Share to TwitterShare to RedditShare to StumbleUponShare to Google+Share to Tumblr The UK is poised to become the EUs sick men and people as its life expectancy has stalled, a leading world health expert has claimed. Women in the UK are expected to live until the age of 83, making them the group in the EU with the slowest growth in life expectancy, lagging behind countries such as Spain and France by three years. British men languished just above the EU average of 79, though seven EU countries expected men to live until the age of 80. Sir Michael Marmot, director of the Institute of Health Equity at University College London (UCL), called on Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to open an inquiry into why life expectancy rates in Britain are not at the same level of other countries across Europe, saying austerity is an obvious candidate. Were this to keep up, we would soon become the sick man and woman of Europe. This is a new and worrying trend, Marmot wrote in the Times. His appeal follow a previous warning in July that life expectancy in Britain is slowing down because of the pressures the public health service is currently facing. His group of UCL researchers found that women are living an extra year every decade, while men are doing so every six years. But that compares to rates in 2010 where Britons were gaining an extra year every four years. I am deeply concerned with the leveling off, I expected it to just keep getting better. I would say it is a matter of urgency to try and examine why this has happened. I am deeply concerned that if we do not fund health care and social care adequately people will lead much worse lives, Marmot said. If we dont spend appropriately on social care, if we dont spend appropriately on health care, then certainly the quality of life will get worse for older people and maybe the length of life too. A Department of Health spokeswoman said, according to the Guardian: Health inequality is a challenging and complex area deeply rooted, difficult to turn around and driven by a variety of factors. Despite widespread variation, smoking rates are at an all-time low and cancer survival rates at a record high. We are investing more than £16bn in local government services over the current spending period to help tackle public health issues, in addition to free NHS health checks, screening programs and funding for campaigns such as Be Clear on Cancer. Divided England: Northerners more likely to die early than Southerners Published time: 8 Aug, 2017 © Phil Noble / Reuters AddThis Sharing Buttons Share to Facebook136Share to TwitterShare to RedditShare to StumbleUponShare to Google+Share to Tumblr Young people in the North of England are 50 percent more likely to die prematurely than those in the South as a result of what academics have termed a disease of despair. A new study, led by the University of Manchester, found there were 49 percent more deaths among Northerners aged between 35 and 44 in 2015, while there were 29 percent more among the 25-34 bracket. This is up from two percent in the 1960s. The research, which used Office for National Statistics (ONS) data from 1965 to 2015, also found that, generally, Northerners are 20 percent more likely to die before the age of 75 than Southerners. Five decades of death records tell a tale of two Englands, north and south, divided by resources and life expectancy a profound inequality resistant to the public health interventions of successive governments, said lead researcher Iain Buchan from the University of Manchester. A new approach is required, one that must address the economic and social factors that underpin early deaths, especially in younger populations, and one that focuses on rebalancing the wider economy to help drive investment in northern towns and cities. The research defined the North as the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands and West Midlands. The South, on the other hand, included the East, South West, London and South East. Buchan suggested the trauma of de-industrialization back in the 1980s may have been a driving factor in the rise of premature deaths in the North, as it created a profound and worsening structural inequality in England. People in the North aged between 25 and 44 are most likely to die from suicide, drugs, accidents, and alcohol-fuelled liver disease, while heart disease is also common after the age of 40. It is unprecedented, said Buchan said, according to the Times. From the 1960s through the 1970s and 1980s there was no difference in the death rates of young people but a large gap opens up in the mid-1990s. Theres a stagnation of progress in the north. Buchan proposed a devolution of powers to tackle inequality between Englands regions, while he also stressed the importance of more funds being set aside for investment in the North. Ed Morrow, of the Royal Society for Public Health, backed this up and said: People in the north are playing with a handicap. Health follows wealth, he said. This inequity can only be fully tackled through a fundamental rebalancing of the UK economy. A government spokeswoman contested the divergence in opportunities between the North and the South. This Government is committed to creating a society where everybody gets the opportunity to make a success of their hard work regardless of where they are from, she said. EM On the 49th Parallel Thé Mulindwas Communication Group "With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy" Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi "Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"
_______________________________________________ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/ugandanet@kym.net/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------