People’s Health Trust believes in a world without health inequalities. We work to ensure that where you live does not unfairly reduce the length of your life, or the quality of your health.
The Trust was set up to address health inequalities in Great Britain and create fairer places in which to grow, live, work and age. Through our funding and support, we encourage resident-focused approaches as a means of addressing the underlying structural causes of health inequalities.
The Trust believes that supporting local communities to take greater control over what happens in their neighbourhood is key to creating new and stronger relationships, improving confidence and encouraging a greater sense of belonging.
Common to all aspects of the Trust’s work is the desire to ensure that control is in the hands of residents and that local wisdom and assets possessed by each neighbourhood drive what happens on the ground.
It is already known that the level of control that a person has over their life is associated with their health. There is also some emerging evidence that health outcomes are affected by the amount of control that residents have over decisions that affect them collectively.
Initiatives that aim to promote collective control, for example through co-production and community engagement, have been shown to increase sense of control, self-esteem and self-confidence among individuals, and to increase social capital, social cohesion and social connectedness in communities. All of these outcomes have been shown to have a positive influence on health.
