Leicester City Council is working with De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) to understand more about contributing factors to obesity which puts people at increased risk of serious diseases and health conditions.
Hundreds of different variables, from location to housing, employment, household income and mental health have been analysed alongside diet and exercise for people across Leicester.
“Using AI allows us to tackle the issues with the data. We can understand more about what might be contributing factors that are associated with excess weight and allow me, as a public health director, to better focus our resources to supporting the communities we serve.”
Ivan Browne, Leicester’s director of public health
Dr Mario Gongora, Associate Professor in Computer Science, is working on the AI algorithm to spot patterns in the data, which comes from Sport England, the ONS, Census and Leicester’s public health teams.
“The data is not new, but what is new are the patterns and links which we are able to show through the AI. It means that instead of just giving people a leaflet telling them to go for a walk, for example, to improve their health we can give specific, personalised advice that is more likely to be effective.”
Dr Mario Gongora
The H2A programme is the latest project in DMU’s Local+ programme, a joint scheme which sees academics become consultants for the authority, applying their own and others’ research into key projects.
Source: DMU working with Leicester City Council to use AI to tackle obesity
