Housing and wellbeing of mothers

The determinants of health

Letters to the Editor. Illustration: Paul Scott
The Irish Times - Letters to the Editor.

Sir, – A headline on your front page on Thursday, May 30th, stated: “Bad housing harms mental health of mothers and children, finds ESRI report”.

I wonder how many hours of research it took to come to such an obvious conclusion. – Yours, etc,

MARY HAREN,

Elmbank,

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Cavan.

Sir, – The fact that housing affects health has been known since at least the early 1980s.

Other major determinants of health are poverty and educational attainment. These were also identified decades ago.

Despite knowing this, the Government prefers to run ineffective health campaigns to change people’s health habits.

Why doesn’t it focus on changing the determinants of health?

Because it’s harder to eliminate poverty and ensure that the poorest children get the best education. – Yours, etc,

Dr JACKY JONES,

Galway.