Here's the rates of alcohol-specific deaths in England by single year of age from 2001-2022. You don't need a magnifying glass to spot the pandemic's impact.

There's some amazing data hidden away in ONS's user requested data section.

Last year they quietly published death data by age, deprivation decile and cause, which means we can look at age patterns in alcohol deaths by IMD, with sadly predictably grim results:

New real time suicide data have been released by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities & show a sharp jump in January 2024.

Coming soon after ONS reported higher rates in 2023, this is a concern.

On the other hand, it is a single month figure in a developing dataset.

How worried should we be?

Short 🧵 & TW

bmj.com/content/385/bm…
industry that creates harm to health has no place in health policy or delivery of intervention to reduce⬇️ harm

Alcohol chapter
Other chapters say same

Misinfo on harm & benefit
shaping attitudes on causes of problem & solutions
Policy substitution

“People have this perception that introducing children to drinking is a good way of teaching them safer drinking. This is untrue. The earlier a child drinks, the more likely they are to develop problems with alcohol in later life.” - Dr Katherine Severi

theguardian.com/society/2024/a…

This is a brilliant article by #BMJinvestigation on how alcohol industry funded educational programmes serve commercial interests and are embedded in UK schools and universities #CDoH Mark Petticrew May van Schalkwyk Commercial Determinants Research Group at LSHTM IAS SHAAP Alcohol Change UK Alcohol Focus Scotland

#BMJInvestigation Public health experts are calling for a ban on alcohol industry funded education programmes in UK universities and schools, which they say normalise drinking and downplay the long term health risks of #alcohol
bmj.com/content/385/bm…

Some important stuff here.

A few issues: 'early' diagnosis for cancer - better to talk of disseminated vs localised.

Presents stage at diagnosis for screen-detected vs symptomatic cancers together. This can be misleading as screen detected cancers tend to be slower growing.

This month, Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) President greg fell FFPH writes about the progress made in sexual & reproductive health over the last decade & why that progress is under threat.

👀Read in full ➡️bit.ly/presblog424
English HIV and Sexual Health Commissioners Group BASHH BHIVA The FSRH National AIDS Trust Terrence Higgins Trust

As usual Portman Groups response is: this is complex, sad, nothing to do with us, ignore WHO policy best buys. Somehow they don’t seem to mind linking any positive trend directly to their “responsibility” CSR efforts with no evidence whatsoever. Self regulation in action

New paper from Matt Keeble exploring public acceptability of local planning restrictions on new takeaways around schools. 51% of adults support, 37% neutral, 9% opposed. Thus new proposals are unlikely to be met with substantial public disapproval tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

We have a fantastic line-up and programme for The King's Fund upcoming virtual conference tackling health inequalities (8/9 May and on demand). Speakers including Bola Owolabi David Buck Ruth Robertson Duleep Allirajah greg fell FFPH Jacob Lant kingsfund.org.uk/events/health-…

…balizationandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11…

UPF industry, & esp its leading corporations, coordinate a global network of interest groups spanning multiple levels, jurisdictions, & governance spaces
268 interest groups affiliated with the UPF industry
‘core to problem’ vs ‘part of the solution'

What is causing the shifts in inequalities in life expectancy
Finland over 25 yrs
fags & booze account for a large share in the gap, but not how the gap is shifting
No single smoking gun

jech.bmj.com/content/78/4/2…

Payments to healthcare organisations reported by the medical device industry in Europe from 2017 to 2019

116 med device companies reported education-related payments in 53 countries
€425m
10 countries accounted for 94%
10 companies accounted for 80%

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Massive congrats to Jen and well deserved

A resolution filed by a group of Nestlé shareholders will go to vote today at its AGM, demanding one of the world’s biggest food makers reduces its reliance on products with high levels of sugar, fat and salts. 

💪🤞

cityam.com/activist-inves…