YOUR coverage of the reported fall in life expectancy across different parts of Scotland ("Life expectancy fall 'unacceptable'", The Herald, December 12) includes many suggested explanations (for example, obesity, diabetes), but neglects what the evidence most clearly points to. Academic experts across the UK have consistently shown the most likely cause to be the effects of UK Government austerity policies, including unprecedented cuts to social security affecting the most vulnerable in society.
It is important to emphasise that this is not a Scotland-specific issue. Similar changes to mortality rates and life expectancy have been recorded in all parts of the UK since the onset of the UK Government’s cuts to public spending in 2010. The changes have been driven by increasing mortality rates in the poorest parts of the UK, resulting in the further widening of inequalities reported in today’s article. Changes in mortality rates have been observed for many different causes of death and across almost all age groups.
According to the Scottish Government and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), between 2010/11 and 2018/19 spending on social security in Great Britain reduced by more than £30 billion. By 2020/21, the reduction will have been in excess of £47bn. The poorer parts of the UK have been disproportionately and unjustly affected by these cuts. With the pathways between poverty and poor health well understood and well evidenced, governments have a moral duty to look after the most vulnerable in society. In the UK, however, that "social safety net" has been dismantled, and academic research has highlighted the resultant effects. These include increased child poverty, expansion of food banks, increased homelessness, poorer mental health among affected populations and, ultimately, increased numbers of deaths among the poorest.
In the words of the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, "poverty is a political choice". What we are now witnessing in Scotland, and across the UK, are the health consequences of the choices that have been made.
Dr David Walsh, Public Health Programme Manager, Glasgow Centre for Population Health; Bruce Whyte, Public Health Programme Manager, Glasgow Centre for Population Health; Dr Gerry McCartney, Consultant in Public Health and Head of the Public Health Observatory, NHS Health Scotland, Glasgow.
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