Our current and future health is strongly influenced by our social and physical environments. Changes in family structure, work patterns, income, housing, and environmental exposures are linked to persisting health inequalities. Understanding how these factors affect people’s health creates an opportunity for evidence-based interventions.
The Social and Environmental Determinants of Health Research Driver Programme will enhance the UK’s capabilities to tackle health inequalities by generating powerful, linked data resources to guide policy, public health and services. It will deliver UK-wide interoperable and harmonised, FAIR health data assets comprising administrative and recruited cohorts linked to high resolution, social and environmental data at the level of home and household.
“This programme will provide new knowledge on the factors underlying the large geographical differences in health observed across the UK. The data generated will complement existing large-scale resources on the social and environmental drivers of health, and help inform policies to improve health and reduce health inequalities.” – Professor Paul Elliott, Chair in Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine at Imperial College London and Director of MRC Centre for Environment and Health