Obesity and mental health ‘biggest concerns’ post-Covid for Peterborough’s new public health chief

Jyoti Atri said both issues have been exacerbated by the pandemic and will be her priorities post-Covid, with a “multi-layered approach” needed.

The new director of public health for Peterborough and Cambridgeshire told the Peterborough Telegraph: “Covid has had a major impact on every aspect of people’s lives. I’m concerned about the impact on the economy and the knock-on impact - job losses, further poverty - it will have on people’s health and wellbeing.

“There’s a lot to do to recover in a healthy and fair way from Covid. It has exposed pre-existing health inequalities, and there is a danger those are worsened.

“We’re already seeing increasing demand for mental illness services, and the fact people have been working from home and not moving about as much has undoubtedly had an impact on obesity. People are taking less physical activity and have poorer diets.

“Those are some of my priorities as we begin to recover from this pandemic.”

Supporting people to access benefits entitlements - which will “help to bolster resilience in the community” - and workplace initiatives are two ways which will to tackle the problems, it was added.