We focus on four complex health issues more prevalent in urban areas
With the Social Progress Imperative, we've developed the first neighbourhood level, health-focused social progress index of its kind.
With Wellcome Trust
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Multiple long-term conditions
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Our work shows a strong link between a lack of financial security and ill-health. Portfolio Manager Rohan Martryes, and Polly Mackenzie from Demos, share the ways we can design financial interventions to promote better health.
We want to determine if we can help slow people’s progression from one long-term condition (LTC) to many by supporting their financial health.
Poor health and poverty are deeply intertwined. Our research shows that people living in areas with high levels of deprivation are more likely to develop multiple long-term conditions 13 years earlier than people living in the most affluent areas. But the relationship between poor health and poverty is not a simple one.
Being unwell can make it harder to earn an income. It can also mean you need to spend a lot more money and make it more difficult to manage what money you have. When people are in financial difficulty, it can make it harder for them to stay well, or recover from illness. People may not be able to afford healthy food or living spaces or to take the time to exercise.
This means that the relationship between ‘financial health’ and poor health is a complex, two-way relationship. We commissioned Demos to help inform what role we can play in influencing this. Demos reviewed the current range of financial health interventions. And, identified opportunities to improve people’s health by changing their financial situation.
Our research suggests that people who develop multiple long-term conditions often start with diabetes, coronary heart disease or depression. Demos’ research focused on financial health support for people with these three health conditions.
We looked at a wide range of financial interventions designed to improve people’s financial health. These ranged from advice to technology – and evaluated how effective they are at helping people with these conditions. We conducted 14 interviews with experts at the national and local level. We also analysed grants issued from 10 major funders to find out what current best practice is and what evidence supports it.
“ Being unwell can make it harder to earn an income. It can also mean you need to spend a lot more money and make it more difficult to manage what money you have. Rohan Martyres Portfolio Manager
Being unwell can make it harder to earn an income. It can also mean you need to spend a lot more money and make it more difficult to manage what money you have.
We found that there are four key ways to better design financial interventions to help people with multiple long-term conditions:
We know that financial interventions are complex. They also need support from many different partners, which might take time to set up and deliver. But, to overcome the lack of evidence on what works, we need to come up with more innovative approaches to financial intervention.
As Impact on Urban Health builds on its work on how social risk factors impact on multiple long-term conditions, we look forward to seeing this learning applied to new projects in South London. We hope to contribute to the evidence on what helps to support better financial health for people with long-term conditions.
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Having a low or no income can contribute to poor health, so we've set up two partnerships to remove barriers to meaningful employment.
Review of interventions for people with multiple long-term conditions in Lambeth and Southwark
Alleviating health conditions and financial difficulty
How we're acting on the evidence that debt and money worries can lead to food insecurity, poor diets, higher stress levels and deteriorating mental health.