Letter

Taking it to heart in Glasgow

Dear healthmatters — In your last issue Sonja Hunt made some hard hitting points about the contradictions of responding to a public health issue with an individualised victim-blaming approach (Cold hearts and coronaries, issue 19). But I think her conclusion that ‘there are worse states than a heart disease — a cold heart, or being heartless’, belittles the impact of heart disease (and other epidemics of the twentieth century) on both the individual, and communities.

It is not enough to say that we are all immortal and will inevitably die. The stark truth is that some of us will die much younger than others, and others will suffer years of chronic illness. We should not underestimate the psychological impact of death and illness within communities which are ‘at risk’.

Working in an area of Glasgow where mortality rates are high even by Glasgwegian standards, what strikes you is the number of people who are coping with the pain of bereavement, or the strain of caring for someone with a long term illness. Inequalities in health are not just a set of statistics, they are a real life situation for real life people.

I completely agree with Sonja Hunt that quality of life should be a priority for public health and health promotion professionals. However, that does not mean we should ignore the impact on that quality of life of the so-called ‘lifestyle’ diseases.