Public health leaders publish key policy positions

Partnership working with and between a range of public health specialists, and local leadership, are important parts of any child accident prevention strategy. As the representative body for Directors of Public Health, the ADPH has published policy positions on the key life course and other public health priorities, including ‘Best Start in Life’ and ‘Health Inequality’.

To give children and young people the best start in life, the key messages focus on:

• poverty – currently one in five children across the UK are living in poverty  
• the need for a whole system approach which involves joint working between the NHS, housing, education, social services, voluntary,  police and youth justice sectors
• a shift towards prevention and early intervention to support children and young people to lead healthy and fulfilling lives

Health inequalities continue to widen despite recent improvements and health is inextricably   linked with wider determinants such as housing, education, employment and the environment. 

The ADPH focus highlights the fact that “children and young people living in the most deprived households are at greater risk of unintentional injury, compared with those living in the least deprived households…this includes injury through poor and overcrowded housing infrastructure and poorer parental education in how to protect their children.”  At local level, health inequality can be tackled through interventions which empower and inform local people.

More information 

• The ADPH Policy Position papers (May 2018) can be downloaded at:  http://www.adph.org.uk/category/publications/policystatements/
• Visit CAPT’s Making the Link website to find policy, tools and case studies based on our work in a number of local areas: http://www.makingthelink.net/