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Why does public health matter to us?

Most people want to be in better health. Although people are living longer, many are often in poorer health. While there is no statutory need, we believe it is the right thing for us to consider health and wellbeing in all our council activities. Everything we do aims to ensure that East Devon is a place where people want to live, work, visit and enjoy life, focusing on where there is greatest need. 

Our strategic aims

We respect equality and diversity and would like everyone in East Devon to have an equal chance to lead a long, happy and healthy life. We aim to support healthy people, leading healthy Lives, in healthy places.

How we will meet our aims

  • As a major employer we will take seriously our responsibilities towards our staff and our opportunities to lead by example.
  • Identify health and wellbeing priorities in each annual service plan.
  • Seek and respond to new opportunities, continuing to build strong community partnerships and maximising partnership-working.
  • Align our activities to support those of One Devon Integrated Care System and with Devon County Council as they deliver their statutory duties.
  • Support East Devon’s communities and residents in making it a healthier place.
  • Plan for healthy communities in all developments.
  • Aim to adopt a health-in-all-policies approach e.g. via health impact assessment.
  • Ensure that our outstanding environment contributes to health and wellbeing.
  • Ensure there are enough resources to improve health and wellbeing across the district.
  • Embrace technologies such as web and social media to share health messages.
  • Continue to monitor evidence to inform and update priorities.
  • Monitor how we are doing, then report and publish progress annually.

We will:

  • Promote wellbeing and self-care.
  • Encourage healthier behaviour so fewer people become ill.
  • Tackle environmental and social conditions to promote good health.

Our priority activities

What we will focus on:

We will focus on local activities which we are most able to support or influence. Our priorities are:

Where we will focus:

We will work across the East Devon district, with particular focus on areas in most need, including deprived and isolated rural communities.