Challenges of Promoting Healthy Lifestyles in Cornwall's Impoverished Areas

This piece was taken from a job application for promoting healthy living in the Camborne/Redruth region, an area of high poverty and deprivation, and low life expectancy. 

The first challenge would be working with local people and communities who may have lost their trust and respect for government figures. Here we have some of the most impoverished areas in the country, which can foster distrust in state sponsored figures. If politicians frequently turn back on key promises, what’s to say that any council employee won’t do the same? To gain back this trust we must work in a genuine way, remaining loyal to people and groups throughout. It will be important to be cautious with our own preconceptions, and to be careful not to appear condescending.

 

Another challenge will be overcoming the conclusion that poverty and ill health are intrinsically linked. We will need to help people to redefine themselves and abolish the stereotypes society has imposed upon them. It has become widely accepted that health is the preserve of the rich, and that people from low income backgrounds cannot afford to eat well, exercise and nourish their physical and mental wellbeing. It does not take long for this narrative to feel like an inevitability for the people it claims to define. It is easy to forget that before the introduction of cheap processed foods all families had access to affordable, locally grown whole foods. There are abundant misconceptions that healthy food is unaffordable and tastes bad. Most people agree that smoking and alcohol have negative health effects, however, it can be an immense challenge to quit or cut down, particularly when they act as a form of relief in times of stress and hardship. Exercise is a similar barrier, once people become unfit it may feel unachievable to ever regain physical fitness. 

In areas with such great deprivation it is easy for people to feel out of control. I would aim to convince people that their health is one thing they have the power to determine, and that it’s never too late to change. 

 

Finally, there are technical and logistical difficulties in delivering the health plans. In many of these areas people may not have the resources they need to get to community centres, whether it’s not owning a car, or not being having the bus fare. A solution would be managing operations for lift shares, or finding the most suitable location for a particular catchment area. For many people it can be a big leap to make any significant changes in their lives. I think we would have to work hard to persuade people that the things they will learn will be of great benefit to them, and worth taking time out of their normal routines. It will be important to stay motivated even in times of low attendance, and to remember that the impact the programmes may have on one person could proliferate naturally through communities. I also think it may be challenging to take the health data of people in a sensitive way that does not make them feel ashamed of their size, weight and lifestyle habits. Working on a very personal level, giving equal attention to all cases, should help people to feel confident and comfortable to engage with the information we will provide. 

 

I believe these challenges actually emphasise the necessity of the task itself. We owe it to these communities that have been repeatedly abandoned to help to rebuild them. Good physical health is inextricably linked to good mental health, and this could be essential in uplifting people in these areas.