Good mental health during early years and childhood has a great bearing on health throughout life. By contrast, poor mental health can cast a long shadow. Consequences may include depression, self-harm, and poor physical health.

Services recognise this. They aim to provide access to support in a timely and suitable way. A national target has been set, namely that 35% of children and young people with diagnosable needs should be able to access the necessary services.

Measuring the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on population health

One feature of the pandemic has been the fast-flowing stream of facts and numbers about the impact of Covid-19. At the same time, we’ve had to absorb the meaning of terms that were previously the preserve of epidemiologists and public health professionals.

Reducing health inequality is a long-standing aim of health policy. Yet the gap between policy aim and population outcome has grown in recent years: on most measures health inequalities have got worse.

The purpose of this work was to identify the key features of local initiatives which encourage vaccine uptake in different population groups, and share these for others to learn from.

Tacking inequalities in health is a long-standing NHS policy objective. Variation in the experiences and outcomes of different communities during the COVID-19 pandemic served to bring this issue back into focus.

Digital technology is a significant part of our daily lives. It has changed the way we interact with each other, the services we use, and the ways we work.   

A new policy, strategic direction or major programme is announced. How do we begin to understand, interpret and explain it? And how can we start the task of analysing and critiquing it?

I see three main approaches:

1: Personal views

As an individual, we might ask whether we like or agree with the proposed change. Here, we will draw on some combination of personal experience, position and world view. This is a starting point, but results are limited to expressions of individual opinion.  

  Between March and December 2020 the Health Foundation; King’s Fund; Nuffield Trust; and the Strategy Unit collaborated to provide analytical support to the health and care system to help in the fight against COVID-19.

Poor air quality is the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK and central London has the highest levels of particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide.  The Guy’s and St. Thomas’ charity, now operating its programmes under the Impact on Urban Health banner, have committed to 10 years of funding to improve air quality-related health in the residents of South London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark. The charity commissioned the Strategy Unit to explore the health of several key groups and the factors that most influence health alongside air quality within the area.

There are few clearer measures of societal health than homelessness. On this count, and despite its enormous material wealth, England is in poor shape. Relative to the recent past, and any country we might want to compare ourselves to, we have a problem with homelessness.