A three-year action plan to cut death rates from cancer, reduce heart disease and strokes and improve mental care has been unveiled.

West Sussex Health Authority released a Health Improvement Programme designed to give people the medical care they need from 2000 to 2003.

Health planners announced the move and said there were pockets of West Sussex which were as underprivileged as East London and Glasgow.

Pressures on some services come from the fact West Sussex has the highest rate of elderly people in the UK and a mix of coastal and urban areas.

In Adur, the authority will target smokers aged between 35 and 54 and work with schools to raise awareness about the dangers of the habit.

Services for people with impaired sight, mobility and hearing will be a key part of health planning in Arun.

In Crawley, work will concentrate on reducing unwanted teenage pregnancies and increasing parenting skills for young families.

Mid Sussex GPs will aim to prevent accidents caused by slips and falls among the elderly.

The programme will also focus on older people, cancer, coronary heart disease and strokes, accidents, children and families, vulnerable people and carers.

A major part of the programme will be aimed at improving mental health care.

Richard Irwin, the authorities chairman, said: "This will be good for the people of West Sussex because it contains proposals for improving health and health services which have been put together by all the organisations with these responsibilities in the area."

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