Women in the poorest regions of England and Wales will only spend two thirds of healthy life “| Life expectancy
The healthy life expectancy for women in the most disadvantaged regions of England and Wales has fallen to the lowest level since the start of recent files, these women are now likely to spend two thirds of their healthy life.
Women living in the richest regions of England probably benefit from around two decades of healthy life, showed data from the last office for national statistics (ONS).
Women born between 2020 and 2022 in the most disadvantaged regions of England were likely to pass that 65.1% of their healthy life, compared to 81.5% in the least disadvantaged areas, according to the ONS.
The estimate of the most disadvantaged areas has been the lowest since the start of the series in 2013-2015, when it was 66.3%.
“We have higher health rates than ever in this country, and this disproportionately affects women more than men,” said Emma Frew, professor of health economics at the University of Birmingham and research professor at the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
“The impact of the cost of living crisis, the two -children’s ceiling on benefits – they disproportionately affect women more than men because it is women who tend to have more responsibility for cleaning, more responsibility for child care.
“They contribute more to unpaid care, there are higher rates of mental health problems and high levels of domestic violence, which tend to focus on girls and women.”
The gap of inequality between men and women has increased, men born in 2020-2022 in the most disadvantaged areas which should spend 70.4% of their healthy lives, compared to 84.5% for the least disadvantaged people.
The gap between the richer and the poorest areas also widened for both sexes-for women, it went from 19.6 years in 2013-2015 to 20.2 years in 2020-2022, while for men, it went from 18.7 to 19.1.
In Wales, women born in the most disadvantaged areas in 2020-2022 can expect to spend 61.5% of their healthy life, the lowest since the start of these estimates in 2013-2015. In the least disadvantaged areas, the figure amounts to 80.7%.
“We see growing levels of poverty due to things such as the cost of living crisis, which has pushed more households in the states of food insecurity,” said Frew. “We consider ourselves to be a fairly developed country, but there are parts of the country that have economic and health results much more similar to developing countries.”
Compared to the pre-coronavirus pandemic period of 2017-2019, life expectancy at birth in England in 2020 to 2022 decreased in the most disadvantaged areas of 1.4 years for men, at 72.6 years and 1.1 years for women, at 77.7 years.
“We have people who always have a similar life expectancy, but not a healthy life expectancy. I think it is the key metric health service and that local authorities really target, because it is not only to bring people to live longer, but we must make people live healthier and longer, “said Frew.
“There must be a truly concerted health and equality strategy that examines these gender differences.”
