SUNDERLAND City Council has launched a campaign to combat a hidden killer which claimed more than 200 lives on Wearside last year.
The aim is to produce a coordinated approach to preventing cold-related deaths, which hit poor and vulnerable people.
Health, housing and social services, the voluntary sector, and fuel and heating industries will work together to reduce fuel poverty in Sunderland's low-income homes.
Dave Leonard, of Sunderland City Health and Housing, said: "It's tragic that in the 21st Century people should still be struggling to pay for warmth."
The council recently spent £141,988 to provide homes on Thorney Close estate with wall cavity insulation
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