Cholera and typhoid may be no more but unemployment and poverty are still having a major impact on health in Salford as they did in Victorian times.

That’s the conclusion of a new report out today by Salford Council on the City’s wellbeing.

While life expectancy has increased, men in the most deprived areas of Salford still die eleven and a half years and women eight and a half years earlier than people living in more affluent areas of the city.

And, although nearly ten per cent fewer people are now smoking than ten years ago, it remains the single biggest cause of premature death in Salford.

Councillor Margaret Morris, former assistant mayor for health and wellbeing, said: “In Victorian times, male life expectancy could be as low as 17 years because of living conditions, disease and poverty.

“We’ve come a very long way since then but deprivation and unemployment are still taking their toll on people’s health, just as they did 150 years ago. That’s a real challenge for public health but being back in local government means it can have a more influence on wider strategies and policies that can affect health.

The report says seventy four per cent of deaths in Salford are caused by circulatory or respiratory diseases and cancer, athough early death rates from cancer, heart disease and stroke have fallen due to people quitting smoking and better identification of the early symptoms and effective management of disease once it has been identified.

However deaths from digestive diseases, including cirrhosis have increased for both men and women over the last 14 years.

It highlights successes over the past year such as closer working with the NHS, improving health protection in care homes and recruiting fourteen Being Well coaches to provide one to one support to for almost a thousand people, which has led to fifty per cent of clients drinking less alcohol, thirty losing weight and sixty per cent quitting or cutting back on smoking.

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