Nationally:
To address health inequalities, the Government has focused on three broad areas for action, namely:
- tackling the wider social determinants of health, including helping more people into work and raising standards of educational attainment
- shaping behaviours likely to lead to better health for people who experience health inequality, by, for example, banning smoking in the workplace
- improving health services and tailoring resources and primary care in areas where health inequalities are concentrated, including offering stronger incentives for primary care to diagnose problems earlier
Locally:
- Mortality due to circulatory diseases has been declining. In Newcastle death rates have declined by 41% in the period between 1995-97 and 2004-06, compared to 40% nationally
- Adult obesity is comparable with the estimated national average but a high percentage of children starting school in 2004 in Newcastle were obese
- the adult suicide rate was above the national average, with approximately 15.6 deaths per 100,000 people: 24.6 per 100,000 men; and 6.8 per 100,000 women. The incidence of suicide is highest among men aged 25 to 29 years. The percentage of the population on general practice mental health registers in Newcastle is also higher than the English average
- The prevalence of smoking is above the national average according to the Department of Health synthetic estimates 'it is estimated that the prevalence of binge drinking in Newcastle is approximately 35% - the highest in England. It also appears that alcohol is increasingly the 'drug' of choice for young people in Newcastle
- Newcastle continues to have one of the highest teenage conception rates in the country