Mitigating the effects of Deprivation and fighting Ageism
TACKLING THE SOCIAL, CAUSAL DETERMINANTS OF UNHEALTHY AGEING
It is now clear that a person's genes are only a minor cause of problems in old age. The chromosome is much less important than what is now called the Exposome, the total exposure of a person to their social and physical environment since birth.
Many environmental problems have a direct effect on an individual's level of risk. Air pollution for example, or a job that requires a person to sit for eight or more hours a day. There are other factors that do not have such an obvious effect but that are also very important of which the most important are deprivation and ageism
MITIGATING THE EFFECTS OF DEPRIVATION AND COUNTERING AGEISM IN EVERY NEIGHBOUR HOOD
One of these is deprivation and although a Neighbourhood cannot tackle the root causes of deprivation it is essential to mitigate its effects, for example by being aware of the areas of deprivation in the population and ensuring that equal or even more effort is put into work in those ares. The W:ISH programme can relate opportunities to people living in deprived sections of the population because it always links to the paerson's postcode. It is important to remember that deprivation is more common in certain ethnic groups which traditionally are less involved in community wide efforts although their own communities are closely knit and supportive. This interaction of more than one determinant is called Inter-sectionality
Another important determinant is Ageism: the negative beliefs about and attitudes towards older people. It is essential to mobilise the resources produced by the Centre for Ageing Better and by AgeUK in work being carried out to counter this important barrier to healthy ageing.
It is now clear that a person's genes are only a minor cause of problems in old age. The chromosome is much less important than what is now called the Exposome, the total exposure of a person to their social and physical environment since birth.
Many environmental problems have a direct effect on an individual's level of risk. Air pollution for example, or a job that requires a person to sit for eight or more hours a day. There are other factors that do not have such an obvious effect but that are also very important of which the most important are deprivation and ageism
MITIGATING THE EFFECTS OF DEPRIVATION AND COUNTERING AGEISM IN EVERY NEIGHBOUR HOOD
One of these is deprivation and although a Neighbourhood cannot tackle the root causes of deprivation it is essential to mitigate its effects, for example by being aware of the areas of deprivation in the population and ensuring that equal or even more effort is put into work in those ares. The W:ISH programme can relate opportunities to people living in deprived sections of the population because it always links to the paerson's postcode. It is important to remember that deprivation is more common in certain ethnic groups which traditionally are less involved in community wide efforts although their own communities are closely knit and supportive. This interaction of more than one determinant is called Inter-sectionality
Another important determinant is Ageism: the negative beliefs about and attitudes towards older people. It is essential to mobilise the resources produced by the Centre for Ageing Better and by AgeUK in work being carried out to counter this important barrier to healthy ageing.
W:ISH
One of the key functions of W:ISH is to relate knowledge about the opportunities for disease prevention, better outcome from disease and increased wellbeing not only to person’s diagnosis or treatment but also to their age and postcode and postcode is one means of identifying people affected by deprivation. This means that the priority workstreams can focus on communities and resources such as films and powerpoint presentation on subjects like dementia prevention and therapy are have been developed for use in these communities
W:ISH is also fully committed to supporting the work being done nationally by the Centre for Ageing Better and AgeUK to conter ageism by ensuring images and language used conform with their principles
One of the key functions of W:ISH is to relate knowledge about the opportunities for disease prevention, better outcome from disease and increased wellbeing not only to person’s diagnosis or treatment but also to their age and postcode and postcode is one means of identifying people affected by deprivation. This means that the priority workstreams can focus on communities and resources such as films and powerpoint presentation on subjects like dementia prevention and therapy are have been developed for use in these communities
W:ISH is also fully committed to supporting the work being done nationally by the Centre for Ageing Better and AgeUK to conter ageism by ensuring images and language used conform with their principles