The Healthy Living Alliance (HLA) aims to give everyone an equal chance to improve their health and well-being. It is the only national organisation focusing specifically on healthy living in its broadest sense and on measures to prevent ill-health. Launched in 2005, the HLA now represents a wide range of healthy living initiatives throughout England.

The Big Lottery Fund (formerly New Opportunities Fund) funded 257 innovative projects in England (350 in the UK) through the Healthy Living Centre programme. The aim was to find new ways to redress the fact that some people face far higher risks than others in their likelihood of suffering avoidable illness such as heart disease, cancer, depression and diabetes. This imbalance of well-being is identified as health inequality. That original programme was evaluated by academic researchers and has now inspired many more healthy living initiatives that are equally successful.

Through encouraging people to adopt healthier lifestyles the HLA, in partnership with its members, with other organisations from the voluntary and community sector (VCS), with central and local government, and with health authorities, hopes to reduce and ultimately eradicate health inequality.

We aim to do this by co-ordinating and providing leadership for organisations delivering solutions in the voluntary and community sector that encourage healthy lifestyles and prevent ill-health.

We also provide a national voice for these organisations and we will drive forward knowledge of preventive healthcare with a view to providing high standards and consistent messages to the public.