Demi
Tue, Oct-10-06, 01:46
BBC News
London, UK
10 October, 2006
There is still a significant north-south health divide in England, government data has revealed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/uk_enl_1160410667/img/1.jpg
Northern areas have higher obesity rates, more smoking-related deaths and lower life expectancies.
And Boston in Lincolnshire has been shown to have the highest obesity rate of any town in the country.
The data is released as the government announced supermarkets, schools and bus companies will be part of a renewed fight against the obesity epidemic.
The Health Profile of England report - which shows the UK has the highest obesity rate in Europe - comes just two months after the Department of Health predicted 13m people in England would be obese by 2010 if nothing was done to tackle the problem.
It sets out the progress the government has made in tackling public health since the publication of its Choosing Health white paper in 2004.
Life expectancy is increasing for all groups in society.
But there is still a clear north/south divide, with women in the north living on average one year less than those in the south.
Northern men's life expectancy is two years shorter than men in the south.
Smoking hotspots
The government reports 1.2m people have stopped smoking since 1998.
But Yorkshire and Humber, the North West and the North East regions have higher than average death rates from smoking-related diseases.
Health minister Caroline Flint said: "We are learning the lessons of what has and has not worked in influencing the choices people make about their health.
"People will only change their behaviour when they decide changing is worth the results."
She added: "We have learnt that parents are unable to assess their personal or family's weight status and do not appreciate the associated risks of being overweight or obese.
"We have also found that people do not connect their day-to-day behaviour to being overweight or obese.
"Parents are not always embracing healthy eating and active lifestyles as it is perceived to be too challenging.
"We want to support parents to make them feel more able to make the changes that are needed to make a big difference to their own - and their children's lives."
Entrenched problem
But Dr Ian Campbell, medical director of the charity Weight Concern, said: "The problem of obesity is too entrenched to be simply an issue of issuing more advice.
"It's difficult to deal with that information.
"Instead, we need to change the environment and make it easier for people to be healthy, with measures such as cutting the aggressive marketing of unhealthy foods and making it safer for people to cycle or walk."
Dr Tim Crayford, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, praised the government for recognising the importance of tackling public health issues such as smoking and obesity, and said it took time to tackle such long-standing issues.
But he said just a fraction of the £211m of funding promised for public health in England had actually reached professionals this year.
"We want to see that money protected in future years for use on public health issues."
Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said the government had abandoned Tory measures to tackle obesity when it came into office, and done nothing itself to tackle the problem.
"We have got to have serious interventions: more school nurses, more health visitors who are routinely working with families at home, and a food labelling scheme consistently applied across all products which shows people what guideline daily amounts are, and which helps them to build a good diet."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6033023.stm
London, UK
10 October, 2006
There is still a significant north-south health divide in England, government data has revealed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/uk_enl_1160410667/img/1.jpg
Northern areas have higher obesity rates, more smoking-related deaths and lower life expectancies.
And Boston in Lincolnshire has been shown to have the highest obesity rate of any town in the country.
The data is released as the government announced supermarkets, schools and bus companies will be part of a renewed fight against the obesity epidemic.
The Health Profile of England report - which shows the UK has the highest obesity rate in Europe - comes just two months after the Department of Health predicted 13m people in England would be obese by 2010 if nothing was done to tackle the problem.
It sets out the progress the government has made in tackling public health since the publication of its Choosing Health white paper in 2004.
Life expectancy is increasing for all groups in society.
But there is still a clear north/south divide, with women in the north living on average one year less than those in the south.
Northern men's life expectancy is two years shorter than men in the south.
Smoking hotspots
The government reports 1.2m people have stopped smoking since 1998.
But Yorkshire and Humber, the North West and the North East regions have higher than average death rates from smoking-related diseases.
Health minister Caroline Flint said: "We are learning the lessons of what has and has not worked in influencing the choices people make about their health.
"People will only change their behaviour when they decide changing is worth the results."
She added: "We have learnt that parents are unable to assess their personal or family's weight status and do not appreciate the associated risks of being overweight or obese.
"We have also found that people do not connect their day-to-day behaviour to being overweight or obese.
"Parents are not always embracing healthy eating and active lifestyles as it is perceived to be too challenging.
"We want to support parents to make them feel more able to make the changes that are needed to make a big difference to their own - and their children's lives."
Entrenched problem
But Dr Ian Campbell, medical director of the charity Weight Concern, said: "The problem of obesity is too entrenched to be simply an issue of issuing more advice.
"It's difficult to deal with that information.
"Instead, we need to change the environment and make it easier for people to be healthy, with measures such as cutting the aggressive marketing of unhealthy foods and making it safer for people to cycle or walk."
Dr Tim Crayford, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, praised the government for recognising the importance of tackling public health issues such as smoking and obesity, and said it took time to tackle such long-standing issues.
But he said just a fraction of the £211m of funding promised for public health in England had actually reached professionals this year.
"We want to see that money protected in future years for use on public health issues."
Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said the government had abandoned Tory measures to tackle obesity when it came into office, and done nothing itself to tackle the problem.
"We have got to have serious interventions: more school nurses, more health visitors who are routinely working with families at home, and a food labelling scheme consistently applied across all products which shows people what guideline daily amounts are, and which helps them to build a good diet."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6033023.stm