Life expectancy in the Black Country is slightly lower than nationally, while people living in the Black Country also have a lower expectation for the number of healthy years they might live.

We fare badly against national levels for a number of major health conditions. We have higher levels of diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, chronic heart disease, cancer, respiratory illnesses (for example, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and pneumonia), and depression.

Child and adult obesity in the Black Country are higher than the national figure and fewer people locally take exercise compared with the national average.

We also have some of the highest rates in the country of babies dying in the first year of life. At the same time, smoking rates in pregnancy are high, and levels of breastfeeding are low.

Further factors affecting health and wellbeing in our region are unemployment and the number of people with either low, or no, qualifications to take into the workplace. Almost a quarter of children live in low income families – significantly more than nationally.

Our overarching research aim is to improve outcomes and tackle inequalities in population health and healthcare, in a system that is sustainable, provides value for money, and that contributes to broader social and economic development.

Our principal areas of focus are:

• reducing the gap in life expectancy, particularly in individuals with mental health and/or learning disability
• improving health behaviours and lifestyles (for example, smoking, alcohol use, diet and exercise) to reduce the high prevalence of long-term conditions (including high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, heart disease, cancer, respiratory illness, depression, and dementia)
• to reduce infant death rates.

You can read more about the work of Black Country Integrated Care System by visiting our website.