Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities

UCL is leading the AHRC/BBSRC/ESRC/MRC/NERC Mobilizing Cultural and Natural Assets to Combat Health Inequalities programme hosted by the National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH). Prof Helen Chatterjee and the Culture-Nature-Health Research Group are working closely with the NCCH and other key partners, including the National Academy for Social Prescribing and NHS England’s Personalised Care Group, to draw together evidence and learning from Phases 1 and 2 of the programme. For Phase 1, 12 smaller-scale projects investigated how cultural, natural and community assets could be used to improve mental and physical health outcomes in communities affected by inequalities, and for Phase 2, 16 cross-sectoral consortia and community hubs were set up to explore how health systems might collaborate more effectively at a local level.

Phase 3 of the research programme will fund 12 projects building on evidence generated by the previous two phases to improve health through access to culture, nature and community. Phase 3 projects will receive large-scale funding over 3 years to tackle entrenched and long-standing health inequalities in Britain’s poorest communities. Some projects will explore ways of addressing health inequalities through place, including in rural and coastal communities whereas others will focus on systems change to support specific groups including: