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Building Up Momentum on a Healthier Future for Everyone

Posted on: Tuesday, 4 January 2005, 09:00 CST

The New Year sees the start of a major drive to raise awareness of Health Challenge Wales, our new national focus for action to improve health. Together with the First Minister Rhodri Morgan, I announced the development of Health Challenge Wales last year and a great deal of work has been done since to encourage organisations and individuals to be involved.

I have been greatly encouraged by the positive response of organisations and communities.

The national awareness campaign, which will start at the end of January, will spread the message much more widely among the public and will help build even greater momentum for better health.

The challenge is based on the belief that everybody has a responsibility for health - it is not the job of the NHS or the Assembly Government alone.

That's why Health Challenge Wales is a call to everyone in Wales - individuals, organisations and communities - to take action to improve health and well-being.

The term 'well-being' is important because Health Challenge Wales is about more than physical health - it also calls for action to improve mental health and well-being.

There are many influences on health and well-being - economic, social and environmental - and action in all these areas can go forward under the Health Challenge Wales banner.

This is why wider Assembly Government programmes, such as Communities First and Climbing Higher, the new active recreation strategy to be published in January, can make a significant contribution to Health Challenge Wales.

It also underlines the importance of Assembly Government partners, such as local government and the voluntary sector, in efforts to improve health in Wales.

Another key influence in the development of Health Challenge Wales is that 'prevention is better than cure' - an adage we've all heard from our earliest years. The importance of preventing ill- health arising in the first place is obvious, but perhaps has not been stressed enough in the past.

Professor Peter Townsend identified that this is a key factor in targeting poor health in Wales and the recent Review of Health and Social Care in Wales by Derek Wanless was unequivocal, stating much greater emphasis on prevention is essential.

Not only will preventing ill-health reduce the toll of human misery that disease causes, but it will free resources for the health and social care system. So how can individuals respond to the challenge?

Some things people do are known to improve and protect health - not smoking is the obvious example. Being active, eating a balanced diet, and drinking sensibly are all good for health. In some cases, too, little things can mean a lot - relatively small changes in diet can lead to healthier eating, and minor changes in daily routine can help increase the amount of physical activity we do.

There are many other things of course, including ensuring that children have their vaccinations, or that older people have a flu jab, use medicines correctly, and take up voluntary activity or learning opportunities, helping to ensure safety at home, at work and in the community.

The recent Welsh Health Survey showed how much scope there is for progress in encouraging healthier living. It showed that:

26% of adults smoke;

Only 30% of adults do enough physical activity to benefit their health;

Only 37% of adults eat at least the recommended levels of fruit and vegetables daily, and

41% of adults said that, on days when they drink, they usually drank more than the 'sensible' drinking levels.

These are, of course, average figures across Wales.

Levels of health are often much worse in disadvantaged areas, which is why the Welsh Assembly Government is taking action to redress health and other inequalities. For example, in Rhondda Cynon Taf the Heart Attack - Active Living Strategy project has established screening and intervention, exercise referral, lifestyle change and cardiac rehabilitation in 17 of the most deprived wards.

The screening and intervention element of the project has reached more than 600 people in three areas alone.

While there is scope for people to do more to look after their own health and that of their families, organisations also have a major role to play, both in terms of the health of their employees but also of their customers and service users.

National and local government, the health service, the voluntary sector and business are also being challenged to do more to improve health.

The Welsh Assembly Government's contribution is to help create the conditions necessary for people to lead healthy lives and to improve their health.

We are investing an extra pounds 37.2m in action to improve health in 2006-08, both to expand Assembly Government programmes and to test new approaches.

Action to improve levels of physical activity feature strongly in a number of programmes. Creating a healthy environment for young people will be crucial to our efforts to build a healthier Wales.

This is why we are investing in an expanded healthy schools programme - the 982 schools currently involved are about half the schools in Wales but the new funding will enable all schools to be part of the network.

We are also expanding the Corporate Health Standard which helps employers and their workforces create healthier workplaces. All organisations, including small and medium-sized enterprises, will be able to receive support for health promoting approaches at work.

But how will we know if all the wide-ranging efforts to improve health in Wales are working? How will we know if people are leading healthier lives? The Welsh Health Survey will be a crucial tool in enabling us to track changes in health behaviours among adults. Similarly, the Health Behaviours of School-age Children survey, held every two years, will provide similar data for young people.

We need to harness the energies of the whole nation. This is the challenge facing us.

I urge everyone in Wales, individuals and organisations, to respond energetically to Health Challenge Wales.

Source: Western Mail

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