{"id":450853,"date":"2026-05-15T21:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T21:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/450853\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T21:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T21:20:08","slug":"former-who-director-blown-away-by-low-life-expectancy-in-inner-city-dublin-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/450853\/","title":{"rendered":"Former WHO director \u2018blown away\u2019 by low life expectancy in inner-city Dublin \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former executive director of the World Health Organisation<\/a> Dr Mike Ryan<\/a> said he was \u201cblown away\u201d by research which showedthe average life expectancy in parts of Dublin\u2019s north inner city is just 61. <\/p>\n

Speaking at a conference in Trinity College Dublin<\/a> on health inequalities, Ryan said he could not believe modern-day Ireland has a section of society with an average mortality of 61. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going around the world saying that we have a life expectancy of 84 or 85. It is not a lie, but it is a fudge when you see people still in their early 60s dying,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s life expectancy at 83 years is one of the highest in the world. The average Irish woman lives until she is 84.6; the average man 81.<\/p>\n

Ryan told the conference, hosted by Deep End Ireland<\/a>, a group of GPs who practice in disadvantaged areas, that he was just 11 when his father died and his mother was left a widow. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe worked four jobs. I would not be here today if the State had not educated me. I\u2019d be amongst those people out there struggling on Merchant\u2019s Quay. My success has been due 100 per cent to the State that invested in me,\u201d the Sligo man said. <\/p>\n

The medical profession had found the \u201clanguage of inclusion, equality, blah, blah, blah. It\u2019s great for vox pops and it gets into every press release, but are our systems willing to act on the inequity in front of our eyes?\u201d <\/p>\n

Dealing with health inequality in deprived areas means investing in multidisciplinary teams, interpretation, addiction services and outreach, he added. <\/p>\n

\u201cAre we prepared to allocate money where mortality is highest? All of these things cost money, but they make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not just bleeding hearts out there treating the poor. This is a discipline in itself, a very complex part of medicine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work matters profoundly, not just ethically, but it matters economically and socially. Health inequities damage whole societies. It increases mental illness, disease burden, addiction harms and premature mortality.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ryan was referring to a study carried out Dr Br\u00edd Shanahan, a GP at the Summerhill Family Practice in north inner-city Dublin, that was recently presented to the Irish College of General Practitioners. <\/p>\n

She conducted a study of people who had presented at the practice over three years and had died. <\/p>\n

She said the median age had fluctuated between 59 and 61. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fairly consistent year on year. There are some premature deaths from people in their 20s that brings down the average, but for the most part it is people who are dying from chronic diseases, cancer, heart disease, kidney diseases and strokes,\u201d she explained. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Look at gas, electricity, food\u2019: Living costs weigh on elderly voters in Dublin CentralOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas you may have people in more affluent parts dying from heart disease, they will be doing so in their 70s and 80s. We see it in their 50s and 60s.\u201d <\/p>\n

She described it as a \u201cdisturbing statistic. We describe ourselves as an affluent, progressive country, which we are, but there are parts of this country where that isn\u2019t seen.\u201d <\/p>\n

She said it was clear too from the fact that her practice does not have many patients over the age of 70 that many are dying prematurely. <\/p>\n

\u201cMost of our patients are between 30 and 60. They die at a younger age.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former executive director of the World Health Organisation Dr Mike Ryan said he was \u201cblown away\u201d by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60,48748,148895,15342,31614],"class_list":["post-450853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-college-of-general-practitioners","tag-mike-ryan","tag-trinity-college-dublin-tcd","tag-world-health-organisation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}