Mortal coil

The latest update of life expectancy data for England shows that trends for both men and women are on course to meet current targets. However, the gap between the general population and the Spearhead Group (England's most deprived areas) remains challenging and is, in fact, wider than when the monitoring began (the baseline uses the 1995-97 figures; monitoring began as part of the Government spending review in 2004).

Looked after children

The statutory guidance on promoting the health of looked after children has been published by DH, replacing the 2002 version. Importantly, the guidance is now statutory for PCTs and Strategic Health Authorities as well as local authorities.

Uncovering the evidence

NHS Evidence - diabetes has published its round-up of systematic reviews on the subject. Another Annual Evidence Update is provided by NHS Evidence - Ethnicity and Health; topics include obesity and South Asian children and using analysis of cancer by ethnicity to improve commissioning.

Good, but not good enough

Responding to the Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group (TPIAG) 2007/08 annual report, Children's Minister Dawn Primarolo called on local authorities and health trusts to continue to prioritise this area of work. Since the start of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy in 1997, the under-18 conception rate has fallen by 10.7 per cent and teenage conceptions leading to live births haven fallen by 23.3 per cent. Following recommendations from TPIAG and others, the government has announced that from 2011 sex and relationship education will form an element of Personal Social and Health Education, which in turn becomes a statutory part of the school curriculum.

Long arm of the law

The Health Act 2009 received royal assent on 12 November. One of its key element is the strengthening of tobacco control legislation in order to prevent harm to children and young people. This new provision bans most shops from displaying tobacco products as well as the sale of tobacco from vending machines. DH is currently consulting on the regulations that will implement these provisions and it is expected that they will come into force in the next few months.

On the level?

The signs are that childhood obesity is levelling out, according to a report published earlier this month by the National Heart Forum. Researchers from the National Heart Forum Modeling Team compared data from the Foresight report with more recent trends from the Health Survey for England. DH was quick to connect the good news with a variety of initiatives, including the Healthy Towns programme. The Wall Street Journal highlights the effectiveness of the European healthy town programme, EPODE, which began in France in the 1990s.

Children's Services

DH has announced the areas of focus for Sir Ian Kennedy’s review of children’s services. They include pathways of care, safeguarding arrangements and transition to adult care. The report is due in March 2010.

Health Visitors

Ambition, action, achievement is the tag line for a paper on health visiting. Getting it right for children and families reports on the first phase of the Action on Health Visiting programme and is intended as a guide for Health Visitors and their teams.

Breastfeeding

There is new commissioning guidance from DH on local breastfeeding support services which aims to help PCTs provide coherent services for this key health outcome area.