21: How the public thinks about health, and why it matters – with Dr Jacqui Dyer and John Hume

The Health Foundation podcast

Ask the public about health, and they often put the responsibility on the individual and the NHS.

And yet we know the context in which we live and make choices really matters. The context that governments, businesses, employers and investors have a big hand in shaping.

Polling shows the public is increasingly seeing the government as having an important role to play in improving people's health, and there's public appetite to reduce the health inequalities highlighted by the pandemic.

So how does the public think about health? And what can be done to engage local communities in improving health?

Our Chief Executive Dr Jennifer Dixon is joined by:

• Dr Jacqui Dyer MBE, co-founder and CEO of Black Thrive Global, a community interest company established in 2016 to address the inequalities affecting the mental health and wellbeing of black people in Lambeth. Jacqui is also a local councillor.
• John Hume, Chief Executive of the People's Health Trust, a charity focused on reducing health inequalities through community development.

Show notes

• A matter of life and death: explaining the wider determinants of health in the UK (2022) FrameWorks Institute
• Addressing the leading risk factors for ill health (2022) The Health Foundation
• What Works Centre for Wellbeing
• The NHS as an anchor institution (2020) The Health Foundation