Dr Eric Baijal has just published his second Annual Report since his appointment as Joint Director of Public Health for NHS Borders and Scottish Borders Council.
This new report for 2010/11, Borderline Health, includes a review of the implementation of the recommendations made in last year’s report, particularly those relating to the health of children and young people and the more disadvantaged areas of the Borders.

Dr Baijal has used a range of statistics to compare the five most disadvantaged communities in the Borders with one of the more affluent towns. The indicators include the number of pregnant women who smoke, teenage pregnancy rates and vaccination rates as well as educational attainment, employment and housing quality.

The report describes how the Healthy Living Network, with a health improvement specialist in each community has worked with Community Learning & Development, Social Work and the Voluntary Sector to engage with the local people and develop initiatives which have improved the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.

Initiatives have included lunch clubs for older people to help reduce their isolation, allotment projects and even a community orchard, food and health sessions for parents, walking groups and numeracy and literacy projects. Schools have been involved in supporting healthy eating through breakfast clubs and cookery classes as well as physical activity programmes.

Dr Baijal said, “The comparisons show similar issues across the disadvantaged communities which demonstrate a similar, poor, life experience for their populations. However, there are also some marked differences which show how important it is to tailor initiatives to the needs of the people.”

“One of the most important factors in the success of our Healthy Living Network initiatives has been the enthusiasm of the individuals within these communities to take part. This has resulted in constructive changes in lifestyle choices and behaviours which have made such a positive impact for the individuals and groups taking part.”

“Overall, I am delighted with the impact the Healthy Living Network has had on the lives of people in these communities, however, we must not be complacent. As well as reviewing our work in the last year, my report, Borderline Health, also sets out where we should focus our attention in the next twelve months. We need to maintain our efforts in these disadvantaged areas, particularly in relation to the health of older people. The prevention of alcohol and drug misuse is a priority along with targeting antenatal women for smoking cessation support and tackling obesity.”

Borderline Health is an independent report for both NHS Borders and Scottish Borders Council and the public.
 
Borderline Health was considered and endorsed by the Board of NHS Borders on 29 September 2011 and will be considered by Scottish Borders Council in the near future.

 Click below to download the documents
 
Joint Director of Public Health Annual Report 2010-2011
Joint Health Protection Plan 2011