Public health Inequalities and Marginalised Populations

Lead: Professor Monique Lhussier

The North / South divide in the UK in terms of health inequalities is now well recognised. This has been significantly exacerbated by a sustained period of austerity, and more recently the global pandemic and its impact on mental health, unemployment, poverty and all of their associated issues, including significant impact on life expectancy, and childhood mortality for example. This subtheme capitalises on our location at the heart of the North East, and our position at the core of the local research and practice driven organisations, with our staff holding leading positions in networks such as Fuse (the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health) and the North East North Cumbria Applied Health Collaboration. 

This pillar includes the following research areas: 

• Marginalisation, inequalities, health equity
• Intersecting equity and public health issues  
• Children, young and elderly people
• Prevention education and substance misuse 
• Impact: knowledge transition, mobilisation and implementation
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Evaluation of complex interventions

Our interests include schools’ approaches to overcoming disadvantage/engaging their communities; multidisciplinary approaches to working with vulnerable children/families; collaboration between schools and with other agencies; working with military veterans and their families, and with Traveller Communities, exploring inequalities experienced by carers, outreach workers, lay/peer health advisers, and working with third sector organisations, as well as examining how local authorities respond to crises, in order to continue meeting the health and care needs of their residents. We work in close collaboration with a range of external partners, who work across a range of aspects of marginalisation, including organisations working with carers, people with learning disabilities or other cognitive impairments, poverty and disadvantage, ethnic minorities and addictions.