After we got here into workplace, we promised that we’d be certain that our prosperity could be felt throughout the 5 boroughs. And the well being of our folks is essential to that prosperity.
However regardless of popping out of a once-in-a-century pandemic, life expectancy on this metropolis has not totally recovered. Between 2019 and 2020, general life expectancy in New York Metropolis fell to 78 years. So, it’s time we gave New Yorkers some further life.
That’s the reason we lately launched HealthyNYC, our bold plan to increase and enhance the lifespan of all New Yorkers to 83 years by 2030. HealthyNYC units clear objectives to cut back the best drivers of untimely dying, together with power and diet-related ailments, overdose, suicide, maternal mortality, violence, and COVID-19.
Capsule bins, injections, and physician’s appointments shouldn’t outline the lives of New Yorkers — we will and we should put money into serving to all New Yorkers take pleasure in more healthy, high quality lives. That is private to me. I’ve seen up shut how power illness can hijack your life. Many New Yorkers know my private story, however they don’t know my mom’s story. Dorothy Adams was a diabetic for 15 years, and I watched her inject herself with insulin for seven of these years. However she modified her eating regimen and her way of life, and she or he was in a position to dwell till she was 83. I imagine if we had caught the power ailments she was dealing with earlier, she would have been with us even longer.
Many New Yorkers have somebody of their life impacted by a power illness, by dependancy, by most cancers. They fear in regards to the subsequent examination, the following injection. New Yorkers shouldn’t face anxiousness and fear about their well being and the well being of their households. With HealthyNYC, we’re going to refocus our public well being work across the purpose of serving to folks dwell longer lives.
And we’re going to do this by addressing well being inequities in our Black and Brown communities. This contains growing entry to high quality well being care to cut back pregnancy-associated mortality amongst Black ladies, by means of packages like our citywide doula initiative.
We additionally know that unhealthy meals — quick meals, processed meals, and sugary drinks — contribute to power ailments. A lot of the issue lies in the truth that oftentimes, solely higher-income neighborhoods have entry to wholesome meals and the Entire Meals of the world, whereas our low-income neighborhoods are left with junk meals choices. Eighty % of well being care {dollars} in America go towards treating diet-related power ailments that these sorts of meals gasoline. We don’t wish to preserve feeding this disaster, so we’re going to improve entry to wholesome meals and promote plant-forward diets to cut back power and diet-related illness deaths.
By way of HealthyNYC, we’re additionally going to broaden entry to psychological well being care and social assist providers, together with early intervention for communities of coloration and LGBTQIA+ youth, in addition to handle the impression of social media on youth psychological well being and suicidal ideation to cut back suicide deaths.
Moreover, we’re going to tackle the overdose disaster in our metropolis. New York Metropolis has misplaced too many individuals to overdoses. Too many households and communities have confronted the ache and heartache of seeing a cherished one undergo dependancy. So, we’re going to improve entry to confirmed harm-reduction and remedy and restoration facilities to cut back overdose deaths.
Rising life expectancy throughout our metropolis is an all-hands-on-deck second as a result of each New Yorker deserves a more healthy, longer life. With HealthyNYC, we’re going to construct a more healthy, extra affluent metropolis for all.
