A partnership of organisations including ECHF have issued an open statement on what’s needed to urgently tackle health inequalities.
Edinburgh Community Health Forum, The ALLIANCE, Scottish Community Development Centre, (including CHEX) and Voluntary Health Scotland have issued a joint statement following recent major policies and frameworks that set out prevention as a key approach to how public services should operate.
Our intended audience is decision makers at local and national levels, and stakeholders supporting policy implementation like Public Health Scotland. Our aim is to share our vision for prevention and recommendations for turning ambitious policy intent into action.
Preventative approaches mean identifying and tackling root causes before negative outcomes occur. For health inequalities, that means dealing with the underlying causes that see some people in our communities unfairly shortening lives, and experiencing less time in good health.
To achieve this, our statement sets out the importance of:
- A clear definition and understanding of prevention
- Putting the hard-to-do parts of policy into practice
- A whole system approach with a properly resourced third sector
As organisations, we welcome the renewed prevention policy intent from Scottish Government and COSLA, but stress it is now crucial that these ambitions are translated – without delay – into specific, fully resourced, and measurable actions at the national and local levels.
We are calling for an approach that honestly and courageously acknowledges the precarious state of our public, third and community sectors. We need to explicitly address the more challenging elements like investing in – and sharing power with – the third and community sector, and most importantly the individuals and communities experiencing the real life, day to day impact of poverty and health inequalities.
Our statement is accompanied by good practice examples from across our members and networks that demonstrate primary, secondary and tertiary prevention in and with communities.
You can read our joint statement and the case study examples at the links below.
Primary prevention – Befriending Caithness, Highland
Primary prevention – Positive Futures, Edinburgh
Primary prevention – Positive Steps, Aberdeen
Secondary prevention – Branching Out, Edinburgh
Secondary prevention – Care for Carers, Edinburgh
Secondary prevention – Community Links Workers Clacks and Stirling
Secondary prevention – Pilmeny Development Project, Leith
Secondary prevention – Room For Art, Edinburgh
Tertiary prevention – PLUS Perth and Kinross
Tertiary prevention – Rowan Alba, Edinburgh
Tertiary prevention – Self Management Fund, Scotland-wide
We urge you to join us in ensuring prevention moves from aspiration to action. Together, we can create a fairer, healthier Scotland for all.
