​Let’s make eradicating health inequalities a priority in 2024 - Foysol Choudhury

Analysis from The Health Foundation also reported that average life expectancy in Scotland reduced by 4.4 years since 2013.

Paul Johnston, Chief Executive of Public Health Scotland, has again recently highlighted concerning health disparities between Scotland’s communities.

In a presentation made to the Cross-Party Group (CPG) on Improving Scotland’s Health in our recent meeting, Paul presented to us shocking findings that people in the poorest areas live more years in poor health, and die younger, that those in wealthier areas.

This raised alarm bells for me yet again about the disparity in health outcomes and life expectancy between Scotland’s richest and poorest communities.

I have raised in the Chamber before my concern that children born into impoverished areas will face significant hurdles in their lives.

We cannot enter a new year in 2024 and continue on a path which limits the life chances of children in Scotland depending on which neighbourhood they were born into.

As we approach 2024, the Scottish Parliament must make it a priority in the new year to take a serious approach to eradicating child poverty and the consequences it brings for Scotland’s children, such as ill health and lowered life expectancy.

I’ll continue to raise my concerns about this until we see improvements in the quality of life for all in Scotland-until a time when where you are born will not affect your chance to live a long and healthy life. We must take urgent action to reverse poor life expectancy and ensure that life outcomes are not driven by inequalities and poverty.

Change is possible. As Paul Johnston noted in his presentation to the CPG, we must invest time, energy and resources into prevention now. That’s why the work of the CPG is so vital, to ensure action is taken and preventative frameworks are established to support the future of Scotland’s health for the next generation.

To do so, however, we must address the interlinked nature of public health and other factors such as poverty.

Only by recognising that life expectancy and poverty can be interlinked can we develop thorough public health policies which take into account a root cause of poverty and take steps to address this by investing in the building blocks of good health, such as good quality housing.

I hope that 2024 is the year for us to turn around Scotland’s record on health and life expectancy disparities. To ensure we build a Scotland which works for all to prosper equally, we must begin by working together in collaboration. I look forward to continuing to work for you all in 2024 on a cross-party basis with my colleagues, to tackle these issues and work towards a future for Scotland where we can be proud of our record on health equality for all.

Foysol Choudhury is a Labour MSP for the Lothian Region