For a surprising reason, Americans don’t live as long as other high-income countries. 5 main initiatives may help

Earlier this year annual World Happiness Report found that the United States dropped out of the top twenty happiest countries for the first time in history. Today’s next report highlights the United States’ poor performance on health and well-being compared to other high-income countries.

In report from the Bloomberg American Health Initiative (BAHI) at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, researchers highlight the growing gap between life expectancy in the US compared to the UK

Life expectancy in the US is 78.6 years compared to 81.3 years in England and Wales. The difference in life expectancy between the two regions (a total of 2.7 years) is even greater for men, at 3.4 years, compared to women’s 1.9 years.

In 1984, residents of both countries lived to the age of 75 on average, and the report points to key similarities between the high-income regions in terms of economics, aging populations, immigrant communities and falling smoking rates. However, in 2019, the UK led in life expectancy by around two and a half years compared to the US. In the latest 2023 data analyzed by the US National Center for Health Statistics and the UK Office for National Statistics, the gap widened as life expectancy fell by part of a year in the US and increased in the UK.

Scientists explain that preventable causes, including cardiovascular disease, drug overdoses, gun-related homicides and suicides, and car accidents, have contributed to widening the gap in the U.S. and led to the deaths of more younger people. The report shows that deaths from Covid-19 and cancer are also contributing factors.

Says Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, director of BAHI and associate dean for public health practice and community engagement at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Fortune what is most disturbing is that “firearm-related homicide and suicide rates are 485.9 times higher for people under 25 in the US compared to the United Kingdom (UK), and drug overdose rates are 4.5 times higher in the US higher for people under 25 years of age.”

“The most surprising finding was that differences in life expectancy were explained by preventable causes,” says Sharfstein. “It’s not about what we’re doing wrong, but rather we must use the evidence we have to scale effective public health interventions, from reducing opioid use disorder to preventing youth suicide, to reverse the life expectancy gap and improve population health. “

According to Sharfstein, there are five main preventable causes of this gap, particularly as it relates to protecting young Americans, which public health initiatives can address:

• Reducing cardiovascular diseases by prioritizing clinical and population-based solutions, including increasing access to hypertension treatment, increasing access to more nutritious foods, reducing sodium through food policy, and increasing opportunities for physical activity.

• Reducing overdose deaths by expanding access to treatment for opioid use disorders, such as methadone, in the U.S. through community pharmacies and correctional facilities.

• Reducing gun homicides and gun-related suicides restricting access to guns through firearms purchaser licensing and extreme risk protection orders – both popular policies that have been shown to reduce violence and self-harm.

• Reducing suicide among teenagers by building a national community mental health infrastructure that enables continued investment in mental health care services, especially in rural and historically underserved areas.

• Reducing the number of car accidents by introducing smart speed measurement technology that warns drivers when they are speeding, enforcing penalties for dangerous driving and including a hazard perception test as part of driving license requirements.

“There is no good reason why Americans should expect to die almost three years earlier than their counterparts in the United Kingdom,” Sharfstein says. “Thanks to programmatic policy solutions, the gap in life expectancy can be reduced. Working with and within communities to understand and solve problems using data and evidence is the essence of public health and the path to a healthier nation.

This story was originally reported in Fortune.com