Regenerating Liverpool V – Killer Stats

We had a presentation on the health of Liverpool from Julia Taylor, Director of the Liverpool Healthy City Project. A couple of stats put the whole issue of urban health into a moral and ethical framework for me.

If we use 100 as the baseline figure for the average life expectancy in the UK, the richest areas of Liverpool have a mortality rate of 132. The poorest and most deprived have a rate of 71. This translates to an average of 8 years less life than the UK average and maybe 16 years less than if your postcode happened to fall in a wealthier part of the  city.

This is simply outrageous,. And I’m sure it would be repeated in Belfast.

Surprisingly perhaps, the answer, according to the stats is not to invest in better health care. Apparently, if you invest in better health care, you will get a 10% return (I’m can’t remember how these figures are calculated, best just to look at the comparative figures), but if you invest in improving the socio-economic environment for people you can expect a 40% return.

If this is not an issue the churches should be exercised about I don’t know what is.