- 14/01/2015
- Posted by: David Rees MS
- Category: News
David Rees AM, this week hosted a discussion session in the Upper Afan Valley on the Health and Well-Being agenda for local people. This initiative was instigated on the back of austerity measures coming from the UK government that will see the loss of vital community facilities in the Upper Afan Valley and the impact these will have of people’s health. This meeting, which included representatives from ABMU Health Board, Communities First, Local Councillor’s and 3rd Sector Organisations, looked at the many public health issues facing the people living in the Afan Valley.
The meeting considered setting out a strategic agenda targeting both enablement and preventative measures to tackle the risks to Health and Well-Being such as smoking, inactivity & obesity and encouraging better life style choices. In order to achieve this the group concluded that this work should focus upon two aims: consider short term measures which can be put into place to tackle the Health & Well-Being issues that exist now in the upper Afan Valley, and to consider a more strategic view of the actions that need to be taken to provide longer term and sustainable improvements in the Health & Well-Being of people living in the upper Afan Valley.
David Rees AM said “The sense of well-being has gradually been eroded over the years with the loss of services and facilities in the upper Afan Valley. Health and Well-Being is vital to the quality of life for many valley communities and it is important that we look at how we can protect services and facilities in the Upper Afan Valley which will help implement the Health and Well-Being agenda to ensure healthy communities in our Valleys.”
The next step is to identify and engage with a range of stake holder groups and form partnerships, not only with the 3rd sector but also with members of the community, who will then be invited to attend and participate in future meetings.
