Welcome recognition that we must support people to live healthier lives Response to the announcement from DHSC of the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) to drive improvement of the nation’s health

Responding to the announcement of the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) to drive improvement of the nation’s health, Gwen Nightingale, Assistant Director of Healthy Lives at the Health Foundation, said: 

‘We welcome the creation of the OHID and its ambition to reduce health inequalities and look forward to working with them on this shared agenda. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the impact of these inequalities and in recovery, there is an opportunity to create a healthier, more resilient society. 

'Given the strongest drivers of health are the ‘wider determinants’, the social, economic, environmental and commercial conditions that shape our lives, the OHID’s approach must go beyond the recent government emphasis of identifying personal risks to ill health and influencing individual behaviours. Improvements in health will also need coordinated government action through a cross-government strategy. 

'Recovering from the pandemic there is a need to reassess what approaches will be most effective and the OHID needs to work with government to build the conditions –through jobs, housing, education and communities – that in turn build a healthier society and one that is more resilient to future crises. Without this, poor health will act as a brake on the recovery and the government’s ambitions to level up.’ 

Media contact

Simon Perry
Simon.Perry@health.org.uk
020 7257 2093