Department of Health and Social Care
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Public Health in England: improvements and challenges
Life expectancy is at the highest level ever, deaths from cancer, heart disease and stroke are falling, and infant mortality is at its lowest level ever according to the Health Profile of England 2007, published today by the Department of Health.
This year's Health Profile shows ongoing improvements such as:
* Increasing life expectancy, now at its highest ever level
* Mortality rates from cancers and circulatory diseases are declining
* Infant mortality has reduced and is now at its lowest ever level
* The number of people smoking is decreasing and the number of smoking attributable deaths is decreasing
* The quality of housing stock, an important health determinant, is improving
The Profile contains international comparisons and compares the health of England to that of the European Union:
* Early death from the two biggest killers, circulatory disease and cancer are reducing faster in England than the average for the EU
* Deaths from motor vehicle traffic accidents in the UK are amongst the lowest in the EU
Whilst the statistics show that there has been ongoing improvement in many aspects of the nation's health, the Health Profile also shows that there are some issues where progress is slow. Regional health inequalities still exist, and rates of obesity, diabetes and alcohol related hospital admissions are rising.
In comparison to the EU - 15, the prevalence of obesity in England is the highest. Deaths from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis have risen markedly, and England has risen above the EU-15 average. Despite declining teenage pregnancy rates, the UK also has the highest proportion of births to under 20s compared to other Western European countries.
Public Health Minister, Dawn Primarolo, said:
"This report shows that mortality rates from cancers, circulatory diseases and suicides are declining. Infant mortality has reduced and is now at its lowest ever level.
"But there is still a lot to do in tackling health inequalities. To address this we have already announced major improvements to GP services across the country - greater flexibility in opening times, and over 100 new GP practices in the 25% of PCTs with the poorest provision
"Whilst we have made good progress in stopping people smoking, I am determined to move further and faster to respond to all these challenges - with a cross government drive to tackle obesity, improve diet and activity levels and promote safe and sensible drinking."
"This country is already regarded as leading the way in key elements in the fight to tackle obesity, for example our approach on food labelling, restricting advertising to children and evidence collected through the foresight report.
"With new resources from the CSR we are planning a long-term, cross government drive for action on obesity. Our ambition is to reverse the rising tide of obesity and overweight in the population, by enabling everyone to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Our initial focus will be on children: By 2020, we aim to reduce the proportion of overweight and obese children to 2000 levels.
This June we launched the Safe. Sensible. Social - the next steps in the National Alcohol Strategy. We have already cut alcohol violence and disorder and put in place: a new public information campaign to promote sensible drinking; an independent review of alcohol pricing and promotion; toughened enforcement of underage sales by retailers; and are planning to introduce more help for people who want to drink less.
Smoking is the single biggest cause of health inequality. We have introduced a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, introduced smokefree in public places, and only this month raised the age of sale of tobacco products from 16-18 years. In 2008, hard hitting picture warnings will be required on all tobacco products produced for the UK market from 1 October 2008.
And commenting on the international comparison, Public Health Minister, Dawn Primarolo, said:
"We are improving much faster in areas such as circulatory disease and cancer than the European average and delivering better treatment to more people than ever before, saving thousands of lives.
"But we know there is much more to do. Lord Darzi's review of the NHS sets out a vision for a world class health service that is safer, personalised, fairer and more effective.
"The second stage of the review will see 72 clinical champions lead taskforces across the country. They will recommend how to further improve healthcare in their local areas based on clinical evidence, best practice and the views of staff and patients."
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
1. The Health Profile of England can be found at :
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsStatistics/DH_079716
2. EU-15 is the EU countries who were members prior to 2004
