Access to Healthy Assets and Hazards

AHAH (the index of ‘Access to Health Assets and Hazards’) is a multi-dimensional index developed by the Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC) for Great Britain measuring how ‘healthy’ neighbourhoods are. It combines indicators under four different domains of accessibility:

• Retail environment (access to fast food outlets, pubs, off-licences, tobacconists, gambling outlets);
• Health services (access to GPs, hospitals, pharmacies, dentists, leisure services);
• Physical environment (Blue Space, Green Space - Active, Green Space - Passive); and
• Air quality (Nitrogen Dioxide, Particulate Matter 10, Sulphur Dioxide).

The map here is rebased for London, so that 10% of areas in the city fall into the worst performing decile, the next 10% into the next decile, and so on. London is, in general, a relatively unhealthy place when compared to the countryside (far away from pollution and unhealthy retail opportunities), so the rebased map looks substantially different to the original.

The general pattern shows inner London as less healthy than outer London, with a secondary pattern showing the north-east and east being less healthy than the south and west.

• The inner/outer pattern is mainly driven by London's air pollution being much higher in the inner city, and the intense retail environment allowing for unhealthy spending habits. This is only partially counterbalanced by the better access to health services in the inner city, and more managed parks, and sports facilities.
• The west/east pattern is likely due to the prevalence of unhealthy retail such as gambling outlets and fast-food outlets that persist in the traditionally poorer parts of outer London to the east (on either side of the River Thames), more so than in the equivalent surburban districts to the south and to the west.

Source: https://data.cdrc.ac.uk/dataset/access-healthy-assets-hazards-ahah