Islington Council joins £50m research project designed to tackle health inequalities across the country
Islington Town Hall. Photograph: Islington Citizen
A national multi-million pound research project is set to examine problems with debt and overcrowding in Islington – with the aim of tackling health inequalities across the country.
Islington Council is one of 13 that have been picked to join the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s (NIHCR) £50m probe.
The Town Hall has been signed up for one year, but this could be extended for five more years, with £1m funding annually.
Islington is the sixth most deprived borough in London and a third of its children, along with a third of its over-60s, live in poverty, according to the council’s 2021 Challenging Inequality report.
Men with more affluent backgrounds in Islington can expect to live for six years longer than those who were less well-off. The gap is more than four years for women in the borough, according to council figures.
Islington’s public health team worked with University College London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and HealthWatch Islington to put together its bid for the research project.
It included data about health inequalities and a plan to train residents to undertake research in their communities.
Councils signed up for the full five years include Tower Hamlets, Newcastle and Blackpool.
Professor Brian Ferguson, who leads the NIHCR programme, said: “By focusing on the wider determinants of health such as employment, housing, education and the physical environment, the areas we are supporting have a tremendous opportunity to make a lasting impact on health inequalities and wider deprivation.”
Islington’s head of public health Jonathan O’Sullivan said it will look at the impact of debt and the risk of getting into debt, as well as the health problems caused by overcrowding.
He told Islington’s health and wellbeing board that the council’s “strong and enthusiastic team” was praised by the bid assessors.