Dear friends

This insulation investment (presumably paid from the community/public 
purse) makes the point that non-cash income also serves to reduce the 
income gap - and hence, increases health and well-being in general.

(Including pressure on health services via the well-known, but widely 
not-practiced as much as it could, theory of prevention rather than care 
- notwithstanding Peter  Townsend's section on the value of the creation 
of poverty vis-a-vis the maintenance of 'elites'.)

(I I recall, there is/was similar insulation experience, I think, in 
Cornwall in the UK.  Which raises the question of how positive practice 
flows from location to location, BTAQ.)

The question, however, unresolved in my mind (I think <g>) is, whether 
immediate equality of cash incomes is the better way, rather than the 
subtleties of redistribution that such a scheme (as described) works? 

ie: is it better that people have cash in hand to insulate their homes 
when the need is seen, rather than wait/hope/apply for such 
schemes/programs/programmes?

Love

john

***********************

Melissa Raven wrote:

>A New Zealand study demonstrating the health benefits - and economic 
>value! - of insulating substandard houses (of which NZ has a lot, due to 
>'Historically undemanding housing regulatory standards'):
>'a relatively modest investment in insulation per house (around £700 
>excluding taxes, or the cost of one inpatient hospital admission) led to 
>significant improvements in the population's self reported health and a 
>lower risk of children having time off school or adults having sick days off 
>work.'
>'A conservative cost-benefit analysis of this intervention trial indicated 
>that the tangible health and energy benefits outweighed the costs by a 
>factor approaching 2, when calculated in present value terms at a 5% real 
>discount rate over 30 years'
>
>BMJ, doi:10.1136/bmj.39070.573032.80 (published 26 February 2007)
>RESEARCH
>Effect of insulating existing houses on health inequality: cluster 
>randomised study in the community
>Philippa Howden-Chapman 1*, Anna Matheson 2, Julian Crane 3, Helen Viggers 
>1, Malcolm Cunningham 4, Tony Blakely 5, Chris Cunningham 6, Alistair 
>Woodward 7, Kay Saville-Smith 8, Des O'Dea Objective To determine whether 
>insulating existing houses increases indoor temperatures and improves 
>occupants' health and wellbeing.
>Design Community based, cluster, single blinded randomised study.
>Setting Seven low income communities in New Zealand.
>Participants 1350 households containing 4407 participants.
>Intervention Installation of a standard retrofit insulation package.
>Main outcome measures Indoor temperature and relative humidity, energy 
>consumption, self reported health, wheezing, days off school and work, 
>visits to general practitioners, and admissions to hospital.
>Results Insulation was associated with a small increase in bedroom 
>temperatures during the winter (0.5°C) and decreased relative humidity 
>(-2.3%), despite energy consumption in insulated houses being 81% of that in 
>uninsulated houses. Bedroom temperatures were below 10°C for 1.7 fewer hours 
>each day in insulated homes than in uninsulated ones. These changes were 
>associated with reduced odds in the insulated homes of fair or poor self 
>rated health (adjusted odds ratio 0.50, 95% confidence interval 0.38 to 
>0.68), self reports of wheezing in the past three months (0.57, 0.47 to 
>0.70), self reports of children taking a day off school (0.49, 0.31 to 
>0.80), and self reports of adults taking a day off work (0.62, 0.46 to 
>0.83). Visits to general practitioners were less often reported by occupants 
>of insulated homes (0.73, 0.62 to 0.87). Hospital admissions for respiratory 
>conditions were also reduced (0.53, 0.22 to 1.29), but this reduction was 
>not statistically significant (P=0.16).
>Conclusion Insulating existing houses led to a significantly warmer, drier 
>indoor environment and resulted in improved self rated health, self reported 
>wheezing, days off school and work, and visits to general practitioners as 
>well as a trend for fewer hospital admissions for respiratory conditions.
>http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/bmj.39070.573032.80v1?etoc
>http://www.bmj.com/cgi/rapidpdf/bmj.39070.573032.80v1
>
>Melissa Raven, Adjunct Lecturer
>Department of Public Health, Flinders University
>GPO Box 2100 ADELAIDE  SA  5001
>AUSTRALIA 
>
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