Demi
Wed, Oct-11-06, 02:42
The Times
London, UK
11 October, 2006
VOUCHERS for milk, fruit, vegetables and vitamins are to be handed out to pregnant women and the parents of young children as part of moves to improve the health of the nation.
The scheme, announced yesterday, replaces an initiative introduced during the Second World War under which young children were given free milk.
It came as a report released by the Department of Health revealed that Britain is the fattest country in Europe, with one in seven children obese.
Caroline Flint, the Public Health Minister, announced the voucher scheme as she issued a statistical profile of England designed to highlight health blackspots.
The profile breaks England into regions and shows a strong North-South divide on health, with people in the North East dying two years earlier on average than those in the South West.
Vouchers are to be distributed from next month to parents on benefits to encourage them to give their children healthier diets.
Ms Flint hopes that this will make it easier for the poorest sectors of society to buy fruit and vegetables.
The Government is already campaigning for people to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Fewer than a quarter do so and the consumption of healthy food in Britain is below the European average.
A pilot voucher scheme carried out in Devon and Cornwall found that fruit and vegetable intake increased and the range of products stocked by rural grocers improved.
Ms Flint said: “It’s a reinvigoration of the Welfare Food Scheme. Since the Second World War, vouchers for milk have been available. Now the vouchers can be used for milk, fruit, vegetables and vitamins.
“We’ve found parents are buying the fruit and vegetables and small retailers in rural parts are bringing in more fruit and vegetables.”
Under the scheme, pregnant woman will receive £2.80 a week. Parents will receive £5.60 a week for each child under a year old and £2.80 for each child aged 1 to 5.
The vouchers will be redeemable at a range of grocery stores and supermarkets.
Ms Flint said that obesity was the largest problem faced by public health professionals, with 14.3 per cent of children aged 2 to 10 classified as obese.
She suggested that supermarkets could help to improve the national diet by showing customers how to cook and eat more unusual fruit and vegetables.
Ms Flint said that from her meetings with members of the public she was convinced that many parents were afraid to buy unfamiliar produce because they did not know what to do with it.
“Supermarkets could play a role in showing people how to prepare one of these exotic fruit and vegetables,” she said.
Tony Blair, visiting a community centre yesterday in Leyton, East London, said that he wanted to encourage rather than force the public to adopt healthier lifestyles.
Mr Blair said: “Most people want to lead healthy and fitter lives . . . but they often find it very difficult to access the facilities they need.
“The Government cannot end up forcing people to lead more healthy lives. It is for us to make our own decisions and exercise responsibility.
“But all the evidence now shows that even quite small changes in diet and exercise make a major difference to the lives that people lead.”
The regional health profiles of the country were published yesterday in the hope that local authorities would compete with each other to improve the health of their populations and champion schemes that have already been shown to have had a positive effect.
A website was set up to allow the public to check the health profiles of their home towns. But yesterday demand was so great that the site crashed. The system is now being upgraded.
Boston in Lincolnshire is the town with the highest obesity rate in the country. The East Midlands is the worst region overall for health, with the West Midlands having the fattest women on average and Yorkshire the fattest men.
Obesity rates are rising. It is expected that by 2010 a fifth of children and a third of adults will be obese, leading to increased rates of cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
Two thirds of men and almost as many women are overweight.
Life expectancy has risen in all sectors of society, but the gap in the average age at death between rich and poor has widened.
The Government reports that 1.2 million people have stopped smoking since 1998. Manchester was highlighted for its success in getting people to quit, but there remains a significant link between living in the North and dying of smoking-related illness.
Commenting on the Health Profile of England report, Chris Spencer-Jones, of the British Medical Association, said: “Whilst we fully support the Government’s aim to help people to make healthier choices, these findings show that there is still more to be done.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2398304,00.html
http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,350584,00.gif
London, UK
11 October, 2006
VOUCHERS for milk, fruit, vegetables and vitamins are to be handed out to pregnant women and the parents of young children as part of moves to improve the health of the nation.
The scheme, announced yesterday, replaces an initiative introduced during the Second World War under which young children were given free milk.
It came as a report released by the Department of Health revealed that Britain is the fattest country in Europe, with one in seven children obese.
Caroline Flint, the Public Health Minister, announced the voucher scheme as she issued a statistical profile of England designed to highlight health blackspots.
The profile breaks England into regions and shows a strong North-South divide on health, with people in the North East dying two years earlier on average than those in the South West.
Vouchers are to be distributed from next month to parents on benefits to encourage them to give their children healthier diets.
Ms Flint hopes that this will make it easier for the poorest sectors of society to buy fruit and vegetables.
The Government is already campaigning for people to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Fewer than a quarter do so and the consumption of healthy food in Britain is below the European average.
A pilot voucher scheme carried out in Devon and Cornwall found that fruit and vegetable intake increased and the range of products stocked by rural grocers improved.
Ms Flint said: “It’s a reinvigoration of the Welfare Food Scheme. Since the Second World War, vouchers for milk have been available. Now the vouchers can be used for milk, fruit, vegetables and vitamins.
“We’ve found parents are buying the fruit and vegetables and small retailers in rural parts are bringing in more fruit and vegetables.”
Under the scheme, pregnant woman will receive £2.80 a week. Parents will receive £5.60 a week for each child under a year old and £2.80 for each child aged 1 to 5.
The vouchers will be redeemable at a range of grocery stores and supermarkets.
Ms Flint said that obesity was the largest problem faced by public health professionals, with 14.3 per cent of children aged 2 to 10 classified as obese.
She suggested that supermarkets could help to improve the national diet by showing customers how to cook and eat more unusual fruit and vegetables.
Ms Flint said that from her meetings with members of the public she was convinced that many parents were afraid to buy unfamiliar produce because they did not know what to do with it.
“Supermarkets could play a role in showing people how to prepare one of these exotic fruit and vegetables,” she said.
Tony Blair, visiting a community centre yesterday in Leyton, East London, said that he wanted to encourage rather than force the public to adopt healthier lifestyles.
Mr Blair said: “Most people want to lead healthy and fitter lives . . . but they often find it very difficult to access the facilities they need.
“The Government cannot end up forcing people to lead more healthy lives. It is for us to make our own decisions and exercise responsibility.
“But all the evidence now shows that even quite small changes in diet and exercise make a major difference to the lives that people lead.”
The regional health profiles of the country were published yesterday in the hope that local authorities would compete with each other to improve the health of their populations and champion schemes that have already been shown to have had a positive effect.
A website was set up to allow the public to check the health profiles of their home towns. But yesterday demand was so great that the site crashed. The system is now being upgraded.
Boston in Lincolnshire is the town with the highest obesity rate in the country. The East Midlands is the worst region overall for health, with the West Midlands having the fattest women on average and Yorkshire the fattest men.
Obesity rates are rising. It is expected that by 2010 a fifth of children and a third of adults will be obese, leading to increased rates of cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
Two thirds of men and almost as many women are overweight.
Life expectancy has risen in all sectors of society, but the gap in the average age at death between rich and poor has widened.
The Government reports that 1.2 million people have stopped smoking since 1998. Manchester was highlighted for its success in getting people to quit, but there remains a significant link between living in the North and dying of smoking-related illness.
Commenting on the Health Profile of England report, Chris Spencer-Jones, of the British Medical Association, said: “Whilst we fully support the Government’s aim to help people to make healthier choices, these findings show that there is still more to be done.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2398304,00.html
http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,350584,00.gif