The
connection between austerity and dwindling life expectancy is hard to
shake off, says David Walsh, of the Glasgow Centre for Population
Health. The city once had some of the worst life expectancy rates in
the western world – for example in the central area of Calton, a
place blighted by poor housing, illness, high smoking rates, and
violence.
Inhabitants
suffered high death rates linked to drug and alcohol abuse and
suicides. As a result, at the beginning of the 21st century, the male
life expectancy in Calton at birth was 54, one of the worst figures
in the UK. Glasgow subsequently made major efforts to improve death
rates in Calton but is now watching life expectancies slide back
towards their old levels.
“I
think it is pretty clear that austerity is to blame,” says Walsh.
“We have taken away these people’s safety nets.”
The
grim future facing these young adults was summed up by Sir Michael
Marmot, professor of epidemiology at University College London. “If
you were to go to a young man growing up in Calton who is doing drugs
and alcohol and smoking and is unemployed and is unemployable and say
to him: ‘Look, you really shouldn’t smoke.’ Well, you wouldn’t
get far with him and, in any case, he might be quite rational for not
making long-term plans because he does not have a long-term future.”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/23/why-is-life-expectancy-falling
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