IPH response to European Review of the Social Determinants of Health and the Health Divide

IPH welcomes this European Review conducted by the Marmot Review Team which aims to inform action on social determinants of health and health equity within the forthcoming health policy for the European region, Health 2020. IPH calls for clear mandates supporting whole-of-government approaches to address social determinants and outlines some of the specific challenges and opportunities within the current Ireland and Northern Ireland policy landscape.

Making the Link Between Obesity and wellbeing

Making the links between Obesity & Well-being. A briefing paper developed for Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) North West. The paper covers the epidemiology and evidence of links between health and obesity. Mental well-being is a key factor of obesity and weight management. Good mental health is a protective factor for good physical health and against physical illness and is essential for making healthy lifestyle choices and behaviour changes. Poor mental health can lead to unhealthy lifestyle choices and unhealthy weight management. Obesity and physical illness can also lead to poor mental health. People with mental health problems, especially severe, are also at increased risk of obesity and related poor health. In order to ensure that strategies and programmes effectively address the relevant mental well-being factors, a mental well-being impact assessment (MWIA) could be undertaken. This process is based on health impact assessment methodology and a set of evidence based mental well-being determinants and factors, grouped under the four themes of enhancing control, increasing resilience and community assets, facilitating participation and promoting inclusion. The process also involves identifying indicators to measure progress. Evaluation shows it is effective in engaging stakeholders in service development and evaluation and it increases understanding of mental well-being and its determinants.

Indications of public health in the English regions - 6: sexual health

This report is the sixth in the series, "Indications of Public Health in the English Regions" commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer and has been produced jointly by the Association of Public Health Observatories (APHO) and the Health Protection Agency (HPA). Sexual health is identified as one of the key national priorities for action in the White Paper Choosing Health. Influenced by the broad definition of sexual health provided in the National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV, this report presents regional comparative data on a wide range of indicators of sexual health and its determinants, and highlights apparent inequalities.

DETERMINE Working Document #1 'Policies and actions addressing the social determinants of health inequalities: examples of activity at EU member state level in Europe'

The Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) is a partner in the European project DETERMINE, building on its previous involvement in the Closing the Gap project in 2004-2006. In the first year of the project (2007-2008) 15 DETERMINE partners identified policies and actions that have taken place within countries, and at the EU level, to address Social Determinants of Health Inequalities. These policies and actions were identified via a questionnaire, which also identified structures and tools/mechanisms being used in the country to support a 'health in all policy' approach.

Making life better: Monitoring the wider social determinants of health and well being - key indicators 2015

This report monitors progress against the key indicators of Northern Ireland’s public health strategy ‘Making Life Better’ launched by the Department of Health, Social Services & Public Safety (DHSSPS) in 2014. In addition to presenting the revised baseline positions for each of the key indicators of the framework, the report also monitors progress against each indicator by comparing the latest position with the baseline.