Health Development Co-ordinator: Gateshead Council
Local government has a long history of consulting with local communities which underpins its significant and powerful role in improving public health.
The main health challenge for Gateshead lies in addressing the wider causes of ill health, the macro and socio-economic causes like unemployment, poor educational attainment, poverty and social exclusion while continuing to provide opportunities for people to make individual decisions and take positive actions to improve their own health.
This is no easy task but better resources, a supported and trained public health workforce will be a huge step towards achieving this.