26/01/09
Heart charity reveals UK is cultivating hidden hotbeds of heart
disease
£9 million programme
launched for those born on the ‘wrong' side of the
street...
The United Kingdom is cultivating hidden
hotbeds of heart disease, the British Heart Foundation can
reveal today.
Recent reports of declining death rates at a national and
regional level are hiding the grim reality for those living in
significant pockets of deprivation, according to our new
figures.
In some local authority areas, people living in one ward are
five times as likely to die from heart disease as
those living just half a mile away.
The new figures highlighting potential future
'supercentres' of heart disease were released by
the BHF as we launched a major new £9 million
programme to tackle inequalities in heart disease.
The BHF's UK-wide Hearty Lives
programme will give those born into deprived
areas a greater chance of living to see their grandchildren grow
up, and better support if they do develop heart disease.
BHF Associate Medical Director Dr Mike Knapton
says: “It is deeply unfair that people in these areas are facing
the likelihood of an earlier death and a much more difficult
future, just because they happen to be born on the ‘wrong' side of
the street.
“Heart disease can have a profound impact on not just your
health and your family, but also on your psychosocial wellbeing and
economic status.
“We must be careful that we are not overlooking the needs of
these people just because others living a few hundred metres down
the road are healthier and wealthier, and inadvertently creating
new hotbeds of heart disease and poor psychosocial health.”
The BHF's Hearty Lives programme will invest
targeted resources in selected communities, and work with health,
local authority and community partners to develop innovative new
projects tailored to the needs of those living there.
The first two areas to receive major awards are
Newham in London and Dundee in
Scotland, while other programmes still to be announced will include
areas in Wales and the north of
England.
Programme plans will vary across local authorities, and examples
include psychosocial support for heart patients
and their families, teenage smoking cessation
services, and heart health support for people who
work in sedentary jobs, such as taxi drivers.
“This approach recognises that one size does not fit all when it
comes to health. Recent statistics highlight that the health system
is better at helping the wealthy than the poor, so it's important
that we all work together to find new ways of addressing this
imbalance,” Dr Knapton says.
Disparities in health within the same local authorities are
highlighted in the BHF's most recent statistics.
Find your nearest Hearty Lives
programme
To arrange an interview or for more information, please
contact the BHF press office on 020 7554
0164 or 07764 290381 (out of hours) or email
newsdesk@bhf.org.uk
Notes to Editors
- The British Heart Foundation's
Hearty Lives programme will be based throughout the UK . It will
include four major programmes, and up to 12 smaller programmes in
various local authority areas. In each area the BHF will work in
partnership with health, local authority and community partners to
deliver additional innovative services that are tailored to the
communities needs.
- The BHF has a range of spokespeople
and case studies available for interview.
- Further statistical information is
available on request.
- The British Heart Foundation (BHF)
is the nation's heart charity, dedicated to saving lives through
pioneering research, patient care, campaigning for change and by
providing vital information. But we urgently need help. We rely on
donations of time and money to continue our life-saving work.
Because together we can beat heart disease.
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