This is the second annual report from the Health Foundation funded Scottish Health Equity Research Unit (SHERU). This year we have split the report into two sections:
Part 1 provides a stock-take of key data that capture health inequality trends and the underpinning socio-economic conditions that shape population health in Scotland.
Part 2 offers a deep dive into deaths from drugs, alcohol and suicide and highlights young adult men experiencing socio-economic deprivation as a population group at high risk of these preventable deaths.
Overall, this report suggests there have been modest gains in some living-standards, including some hopeful signs of reductions in child poverty, but this is set against persistent, and in places deepening, structural inequalities that continue to drive poor health. Focusing on average outcomes paints a picture of men in Scotland doing relatively well but this obscures a subset of young adult men facing multiple socio-economic challenges who are at high risk of early, preventable deaths.
Authors
Allison is a Fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute. She specialises in health, socioeconomic inequality and labour market dynamics.
Emma Congreve is Principal Knowledge Exchange Fellow and Deputy Director at the Fraser of Allander Institute. Emma's work at the Institute is focussed on policy analysis, covering a wide range of areas of social and economic policy. Emma is an experienced economist and has previously held roles as a senior economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and as an economic adviser within the Scottish Government.
David is a Senior Knowledge Exchange Fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute. Previously, he worked in a range of analytical positions across the public sector, primarily as a statistician.
Fiona McHardy
Fiona McHardy is Research and Information manager and is responsible for the overall management and delivery of all research programmes at The Poverty Alliance.
Katherine Smith
Katherine is a Professor of Public Health Policy at the Strathclyde School of Social Work and Social Policy, and is co-director of Strathclyde's Centre for Health Policy.