Ending the blame game: The case for a new approach to public health and prevention

Article

Too many people in the UK are suffering from preventable ill-health with progress on prevention stalling in recent years.

Over half of the disease burden in England is deemed preventable, with one in five deaths attributed to causes that could have been avoided. The UK has made significant progress on this agenda in the past but we appear to have ‘hit a wall’ with limited progress since 2010.

Action on prevention will not only improve health but also lead to increases in economic growth, make the NHS more sustainable and help to deliver social justice. The government’s prevention green paper must deliver a paradigm shift in policy from interventions that ‘blame and punish’ to those that ‘empathise and assist’.

Related items

  1. Union Jack flag and the Stars and Stripes flag of the USA, fluttering together in front of Big Ben in Westminster

    It's the cost of living, stupid: Why progressives lose and win

    UK households are impatient for change. Trust in our political system is low and that’s reflected in scepticism across the board that government can make things better. 

  2. Getting the child poverty strategy we need: A co-produced agenda for change

    The UK government has a time-limited opportunity to make a decisive difference to child poverty in its upcoming strategy. 

  3. Not yet settled? Assessing the government’s new policy on indefinite leave to remain

    This month’s white paper represented the most significant shake-up in immigration policy since Brexit.