PHA working to help poorer live longer

The Minister was asked by Foyle MLA Martina Anderson what steps his Department was taking to address the lower life expectancy that exists in the most deprived wards of Londonderry.

Earlier this year a NI Health & Social Care Inequalities Monitoring System Sub-regional Inequalities report highlighted how poorer people were still dying younger in Londonderry and the Western Trust than their better off neighbours.

The report showed that male life expectancy within the most deprived areas in the Trust rose sharply between 2002 and 2005 but fell back thereafter and over the 2001-2008 period the Trust inequality gap remained broadly similar and stood at 3.4 years (4 per cent) in 2008.

Over the period, female life expectancy across all areas increased. The most deprived areas within the Western Trust saw the greatest increase (2.6 years; 3 per cent).

This compared with a 2 per cent increase in both the Trust overall and NI as a whole. The Trust inequality gap closed from 2.6 years (3 per cent) in 2001 to 1.7 years (2 per cent) in 2008.

Responding to last week's Assembly Question Mr McGimpsey said the PHA was working with the statutory and community sectors in Londonderry to further reduce inequalities in life expectancy.

He commented: "My Department, through the Public Health Agency, is taking action in the Derry City Council area - and across Northern Ireland - to improve health and wellbeing, and to reduce inequalities in life expectancy.

"The PHA is working with the statutory, community and other sectors to take action in the areas of greatest need to address a range of lifestyle issues such as smoking, obesity, accidents, alcohol and drug misuse, and mental health and suicide.

"In addition partnership working is seeking to address the factors that affect life expectancy which go beyond the HSC, such as living conditions -for example fuel poverty, working environment, education, community cohesion, and environmental factors."