Recent survey identifies 1.3 million avoidable cases of depression in the UK, driven by poverty.
In a report recently shared in The Independent, the Institute for Public Policy Research and Lane Clark & Peacock has pinpointed a “clear link” between deprivation –and lack of education and welfare – and poor mental health in England.
The study examined different parts of the country and compared health outcomes, including mental health, with levels of wealth. It showed that adults living in areas with the highest levels of poverty were three times more likely to have been diagnosed with depression – and said that if health inequalities were reduced, there would be 1.3 million fewer adults living with depression in the UK.
“The devastating truth is that poverty causes illnesses and illness can often trap people in poverty,” Jonathon Ashworth, shadow secretary for health and social care told The Independent. “Promises to ‘level up’ are utterly hollow without meaningful action to tackle deprivation and focus on the impact on physical and mental ill health. An overarching, meaningful health inequalities strategy is now more urgent than ever.”
These findings echo figures from the Office for National Statistics published earlier this year, which reported that levels of depression in August 2021 were ten per cent above levels reported pre-pandemic and that one in four adults living in the most deprived areas of England had experienced some form of depression, compared to just 12 per cent in the least deprived areas.
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