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Treating the UK’s loneliness epidemic
Over a million people in the UK aged over 65 now
experience chronic loneliness. This figure will only rise as
our population ages. And research shows that severe
loneliness affects people across their life course, including
children and young people.
Chronic loneliness is as bad for our health as smoking 15
cigarettes a day and as damaging as obesity and physical
inactivity. It is linked with depression, dementia and high
blood pressure alongside a number of other conditions.
Loneliness impacts on our struggling health and social care
system, with evidence showing that those living with
loneliness are far more likely to visit their local doctor or
A&E. New research shows the health cost alone of
loneliness is equivalent to some £12,000 per person over 15
years.
National and local policymakers are now waking
up. Health and wellbeing boards across England are making
loneliness a priority and the Welsh and Scottish
governments have recently announced commitments to
develop national cross-governmental strategies to address
loneliness and social isolation.
We are calling on the UK government to follow suit and
commit to the development of a UK-wide strategy for
tackling loneliness and social isolation to help end this
growing crisis.
Adaptado de: <https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/04/treating-ukloneliness-epidemic> Acessado em 4 de outubro de 2016.