£5 million to tackle health inequalities
Glasgow has been awarded £5 million in research funding over the next five years to help improve the lives of citizens and tackle health inequalities.
The funding, from the National Institute for Health & Care Research, goes to a partnership consisting of Glasgow City Council, Greater Glasgow & Clyde NHS, the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde.
The partnership will focus on using data and research to inform and influence decision making on the wider determinants of health. This includes a focus on employment, housing, education and the physical environment – and to co-design and evaluate solutions that will help to improve the health and wellbeing of every person in the city, regardless of their circumstances.
The team's aim also aligns with the city's commitment to help tackle child poverty and will complement and build on existing work through the city's Child Poverty Pathfinder.
Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, welcomed the five-year funding to kick-start the city research following the development year and help transform lives through data and research.
“Glasgow's health challenges are well documented and it has the lowest life expectancy in the country. The ongoing impact and aftermath of the pandemic and the tightening grip of the cost-of-living challenges has had a disproportionate consequence on our most deprived communities."
Engagement with stakeholders and target audiences will be the key to deliver on the aims of the partnership and collaboration, and the use of data and research to influence solutions will be crucial to success.
Health inequalities research at the University of Glasgow is focused on the persistent and unfair gaps in health and wellbeing between different groups in society. Our researchers seek to understand what causes health inequalities and how we can best tackle them together. Working with a range of population groups, alongside data on key health outcomes and diseases, our teams are working to better understand inequality through research.