Poverty SIG

The Poverty Special Interest Group (SIG) was established in 2022 to provide an authoritative resource and network for the public health community to promote and protect UK population health through addressing poverty, both by its reduction and mitigation. 

Specifically, the SIG aims to:

    1. To provide a resource to collate definitions of poverty and information on changing levels and burden of all types of poverty, the evidence of their impact on health, and the effect of national policies on poverty.
    2. To share knowledge and experience of interventions to both prevent and mitigate the effects of poverty in all its forms at local and national level and their impact on health.
    3. To share learning on how public health professionals can influence policies addressing poverty.
    4. To engage and partner with existing poverty focused bodies and with other health related organisations.
    5. To coordinate the work of other SIGs in this space.
    6. To advocate for policies to alleviate poverty and to thereby reduce health inequities.
    7. To develop a communication strategy for the work of the SIG.

Recent activities

Hybrid conference: Poverty and the cost of living crisis – a public health emergency

In collaboration with the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), and the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH), the Faculty of Public Health (FPH), held a hybrid conference on poverty and the cost-of-living crisis.

This key population and health inequalities conference highlighted the current crisis in the UK and raised awareness about evidence-based interventions that can be implemented to tackle poverty and its effects.

You can find event materials including a recording and speaker slides here. Many thanks to the RSM for providing the event recording.

Embedding environmental and sustainability considerations into the public health response to the cost-of-living crisis

In January 2023, FPH’s Sustainable Development and Poverty SIGs co-hosted a workshop on how to ensure the public health response to the cost-of-living crisis was environmentally friendly and sustainable. The workshop presented a ‘Thinking Guide’ that was developed by the SIGs to help public health professionals prioritise sustainable interventions in tackling the cost-of-living crisis.

Health Improvement Committee meeting

The Poverty SIG presented on their recent work and upcoming projects at the Health Improvement Committee's (HIC) meeting on 18th October 2022. Further details can be found on the HIC page here.

Contact:

The Poverty SIG reports to the Health Improvement Committee (HIC) and is chaired by Paul Roderick. Please contact pjr@soton.ac.uk if you would like to join our meetings.

Please note that in order to join any SIG you are required to be a member of the Faculty of Public Health.

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