Friday 21st October 2022.
Recording of the event is available: Here
Presentation slides are available here: Presentation_MarmotLaunch_211022
Gwent to tackle inequalities by becoming the first ‘Marmot Region’ in Wales
A recent Public Health Wales review has revealed that the lives of people in some areas of Gwent are being cut short due to lifestyle inequalities.
To help address this, partners that make up Gwent Public Services Board (PSB) are joining forces to reduce inequalities and make Gwent the first Marmot Region in Wales.
On October 21st leaders from across public sector organisations in Gwent came together for the Gwent Marmot Region Launch at the Lysaght Institute in Newport. Those attending heard that there is an 18-year gap in healthy life expectancy between the wealthiest and poorest areas of Gwent. In the least well-off neighbourhoods in the region, women are living just 48 years of their life in good health.
Becoming a Marmot Region signifies a collective intent to work together to improve equity across Gwent and to improve the lives of local communities as a result. Gwent Public Services Board (made up of our local public services – Health, Councils, Fire, Police, Housing, Education, Environment and Voluntary organisations) has brought into Gwent the help of Professor Sir Michael Marmot and his team at the Institute of Health Equity (IHE). Professor Marmot has over 40 years’ experience of identifying conditions in which everyone can thrive.
Councillor Sean Morgan, Chair of Gwent Public Services Board, said: “Developing strong communities where people can live well needs certain building blocks like warm housing, healthy food and fair work – and right now some of these building blocks are missing in some of our communities.
“To drive the change needed, we will create a local plan to reduce inequalities and support communities across Gwent to live long and well.”
At the Gwent Marmot Region Launch, Sir Professor Michael Marmot said: “You are the solution to how we’re going to making a difference in building back a fairer and greater Gwent, I’m delighted you are part of this social movement. It’s vital to get a handle on how we will make a difference- people working at a local level and being absolutely committed can make a real difference in Gwent.”
We have to deal with challenging factors of cost of living and governance crises, and the start of that is putting equity and health at the heart of everything you do.
Speakers’ bios.
Michael Marmot
Sir Michael Marmot has been Professor of Epidemiology at University College London since 1985, and is Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity. He is the author of The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world (Bloomsbury: 2015), and Status Syndrome (Bloomsbury: 2004).
Michael is the Advisor to the WHO Director-General, on social determinants of health, in the new WHO Division of Healthier Populations and co-Director of the of the CUHK Institute of Health Equity. He has led research groups on health inequalities for nearly 50 years.
Michael chaired the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, several WHO Regional Commissions, and reviews on tackling health inequality for governments in the UK. He is President of the British Lung Foundation. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Honorary Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and of the Faculty of Public Health; an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy; and of the Royal Colleges of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Psychiatry, Paediatrics and Child Health, and General Practitioners. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine and of the Brazilian Academy of Medicine.
In 2000, Michael was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ii, for services to epidemiology and the understanding of health inequalities.
Positive Futures
Newport Live is a sport, leisure, arts, and cultural trust and registered UK charity, established by Newport City Council, delivering services and ‘inspiring people to be happier and healthier’. Led by Newport Live, Positive Futures is a sport based social inclusion programme for children and young people, established in Newport since 2002 as part of a Home Office initiative with funding and support from the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner for Gwent, as well as Sport Wales, Local Authorities, Alliance of Sport, and other UK sport for development charities.
Positive Futures has an excellent track record of reaching, engaging, and changing the lives of children and young people at an early intervention and prevention level, using sport, physical activity, and the arts as an engagement tool, focussing on inequality and families living in areas of poverty across Newport and Gwent.
Newport Live | Positive Futures
Cllr Sean Morgan (PSB Chair)
Biography is available on the PSB website: Member profiles – Gwent Public Services Board Gwent Public Services Board (gwentpsb.org)
Dr Sarah Aitken
Biography is available on PSB website: Member profiles – Gwent Public Services Board Gwent Public Services Board (gwentpsb.org)
Stephen Vickers
Biography is available on PSB website: Member profiles – Gwent Public Services Board Gwent Public Services Board (gwentpsb.org)
Paul Matthews
Paul became CEO of Monmouthshire County Council in 2009. He is a visiting professor at Cardiff University, a Governor / Trustee of Cardiff Metropolitan University, SOLACE lead for the economy and digital portfolio and clerk to the Lord Lieutenancy of Gwent. Paul has been a returning officer for more than a decade and has played a significant role in building the Cardiff Capital Region and its City Deal. Paul has held a number of advisory and Board positions within government and commercial organisations. Paul is a mentor, a coach and is very proud to be a vocational public servant. He is a leader who always remembers to say, ‘thank you.’
