Organisations in Hampshire have pledged to improve health, make better use of health services, and boost the local economy by 2050.

The promise was made at a meeting of the Hampshire 2050 Partnership at Hampshire County Council.

The meeting saw local authorities, health services, the education sector, other public organisations, and businesses come together to launch a 'Year of Health and Wellbeing'.

It marks the start of a 12-month focus by the partners on the development of activity, both within their own organisations and collectively, aimed at securing long-term improvements in people’s physical and mental wellbeing across the county.

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The initiative is supported by England’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy.

Dr de Gruchy said: "I think the Partnership’s Year of Health and Wellbeing initiative is fantastic.

"I have not seen an approach quite like this in any of my travels around the country.

"This will help direct efforts on what are some of the really big challenges that Hampshire faces and enables partners to collectively ask what they can do about the lack of physical activity, increasing obesity levels and poor mental health among Hampshire’s population."

Cllr Nick Adams-King, leader of Hampshire County Council, said: "We know that good health is vital for a high quality of life, mental wellbeing and, for many, financial security as we’ll be working for longer than the generation before us.

"However, the task of improving health and wellbeing is everyone’s business - it cannot just fall to health and social care organisations.

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"As partners, we are all committed to delivering the best for the people of Hampshire and the benefits to all from a healthy and well population are so important.

"I am sure there is much that we can do together and individually, from the way we run our organisations and integrate health and wellbeing into the way we do business, to how we support our staff."

Hampshire and Isle of Wight director of public health, Simon Bryant, said: "Health and wellbeing is an incredibly critical issue.

"We know that more people are living longer but they are doing so in poor health, and we need to tackle this so that we improve people’s quality of life, help people to live longer, enable much better use of our health services, and help encourage a thriving local economy."