Modelling the costs, health consequences and impact on inequalities of a population level health promoting intervention

无论是在地理上，还是在不同的社会经济群体之间，英国各地的预期寿命和健康不良的负担都存在很大差异。为了解决健康不平等问题，必须将资源用于政策和方案，这些政策和方案不仅能改善整体健康，而且还能缩小健康差距。然而，决策者面临的困难之一是，他们往往不知道拟议的计划将对健康不平等产生什么影响，甚至对整体健康会产生什么影响。当拟议的方案很复杂时，这是一个特别的问题，例如目前的学校旅行计划倡议。这一特定的计划对健康有许多潜在的积极和消极影响，这些影响在不同地区和不同人口中可能不同。预测健康促进计划的成本和健康影响的一种方法是通过健康经济模型。这些数学模型试图以一种简化的方式复制真实世界，结合来自不同来源的证据，以估计拟议行动方案的结果。该项目旨在为学校旅行计划方案开发这样一个模型，以便估计成本、健康后果和对健康不平等的影响。

There are large differences in life expectancy and the burden of ill health across the UK, both geographically and between different socioeconomic groups. In order to address health inequalities resources must be directed towards policies and programmes that not only improve health overall, but that also reduce the health gap. One of the difficulties for decision makers, however, is that they often do not know what impact a proposed programme will have on health inequalities, or indeed on overall health. This is a particular problem when the proposed programme is complex, an example being the current School Travel Plan initiative. This particular programme has many potential effects on health, both positive and negative, and these may differ in different areas and in different populations.One approach to predicting the costs and health effects of a health promoting programme is through health economic modelling. These mathematical models attempt to replicate the real world in a simplified fashion, combining evidence from diverse sources in order to estimate the outcome of a proposed course of action. This project aims to develop such a model for the school travel plan programme in order to estimate costs, health consequences and the impact on health inequality.