Annual Report of the Director of Public Health 2004

Choosing Health

In last year’s annual public health report we highlighted the main health issues facing the population of Southwark, from infancy to old age, and we considered how health may be influenced by the many inequalities in our deprived, inner-city, multicultural society.

This year’s report looks at public health from a different angle – through the lens of so-called ‘lifestyles’ – the way people lead their lives and the impact this has on their health.

People’s lifestyles depend not only on personal choice but much more fundamentally on the environments in which they live, work and play, and on wider determinants such as income and education. In other words, lifestyle factors too are greatly influenced by inequalities and must be tackled on a broad front through effective multi-agency partnerships. Health is far too important to leave to the health services.

It is only by changing these very broad influences and circumstances, through action at local as well as national level, that we can hope to increase the opportunities people have to choose healthier lifestyles. This has been recognised by the government in its new public health strategic programme, Choosing Health, and it provides the basis for our 2004 public health report.

I would like to thank the many people who have helped to bring this report together, drawn from Public Health and other directorates within and the PCT, and also from a number of our partner agencies. And finally, thank you for reading it – and hopefully getting something useful out of it. I would be very happy to receive any comments you might have.

Dr Alan Maryon Davis
Director of Public Health for Southwark