UK - Unhealthiest Nation in Europe?
 

Startling figures from the Association of Public Health Observatories reveal that the UK is the fattest EU member with the highest rates of teen pregnancies and the worse rates of female cancer survival and infant deaths. 

The report indicated that the West Midlands, has the highest percentage of obese adults standing at 29% (double the EU average of 14%) and higher than the average in Greater London of 19%.  

Similarly female cancer rate deaths in South East England were reported at 185 per 100,000, with North East England at 174 per 100,000.  Europe on the other hand has an average of 139.5 per 100,000. 

Although these figures may have altered slightly since the data was collected, it still provides a snap shot of the public health issues in England and highlights areas that need to be addressed.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, public health expert, said the report highlighted "stark differences" in health across the EU.
"The behaviours that lead to obesity and teenage pregnancy, for example, arise from social conditions.
"This knowledge informs what we as a society can do at a local, regional, national and international level to create the conditions for greater health equity."

The Good News

Despite the figures highlighted above, evidence suggests that the picture is not all gloom.  Firstly, due to early smoking interventions, authors of the report point out that this has had a very positive impact on health outcomes.  Additionally, life expectancy rates in the UK are slightly better than Europe and we perform well at treating heart disease. 

Dr Claire Bradford who compiled the report said, "This type of data allows us to compare not just between countries but within countries and to look at what is going well and what is not.

"People that are able to influence which way we are going as a nation should look at this to decide on priorities and actions."

Clearly, there is still much to be done to tackle the obesity rates and social determinants of health in the UK.  Governments, local authorities, communities and individuals need to take responsibility and work together to improve health and bring about a positive change. 

The RSPH currently run a "Foundation Programme in Health Improvement" course, which offers candidates the opportunity of developing a firm foundation in health improvement . The programme is especially useful for those new to concepts of Public Health and Health Improvement who wish to gain a quick grasp and knowledge of this area.  For further information please contact Nicolette Smith

Family Champion - Encouraging Families To Work

The governments new public health White Paper, Healthy Lives, Healthy People, emphasises the many benefits of being in work.  The paper draws on evidence reported in Dame Carol Black's Review of the Health of Britain's Working Age Population which states that being in work leads to better physical and mental health and could save the the UK up to £100 billion a year by reducing working age ill health.  Black's review also highlights that being in work is in general good for health and self esteem, and can help alleviate poverty.  In an effort to encourage and help people into work, central and local government will support economic growth and make it pay to work through reforming the welfare system.

One of the initiatives that has been introduced by the government is the "Family Champion".  The idea behind the Family Champion is to work with troubled families with long-term unemployment, and help ease them back into the working sphere.  Some of the families will never have worked before.  The work of the Family Champion will not only consist of providing support and sign posting services, but also help to change the culture and mind set of families. 

Emma Harrison of A4e was today appointed "family champion" by the government.  In an interview on the Radio 4 Today programme Harrison claimed that she wanted to turn all families with long term unemployment into "working families".  Someone will be appointed to work with each familiy and will be referred to as "Emmas" by the government.  Harrison stated that she has already begun working with six families, of which one had never ever worked.  However, within a day the family were participating in voluntary work.  This Harrison believed, helped them gain pride, confidence and a sense of purpose.





 

MHF/Mind mental health practice guide to launch in January

The MHF and Mind joint conference Achieving effective practice in male mental health will take place in London in January 2011. Visitors to this website are entitled to a 20% discount - just quote MHF50 when booking.

This conference, which is on 11 January 2011 at the ORT House Conference Centre, London NW1, will see the launch of the Guide to Effective Practice in Male Mental Health commissioned by the National Mental Health Development Unit from Mind and the MHF.
Key speakers include the two co-authors MHF policy officer David Wilkins and Marian Kemple who was previously Policy and Campaigns Officer at Mind as well as Melba Wilson who is the national programme lead for the Mental Health Equalities Programme at the National Mental Health Development Unit.
Delegate places also include a free year’s subscription to Mental Health Today magazine.

To Download the flyer and booking form please click here

Obese Pregnant Women - The Health Risks

In a study carried out by the Centre for Maternal and Child Enquiries (CMACE) "Maternal Obesity in the UK: Findings from a national Project" reveals that one in twenty women are seriously obese when they become pregnant putting their health and that of their baby at risk.

In 2008 the CMACE commenced a three year UK wide Obesity in Pregnancy project.  The project was initiated because of the growing concerns surrounding obesity and the challenge facing maternity services today.  These concerns included i) growing evidence that obesity is associated with increased morbidity and mortality for both mother and baby, ii) that women with obesity were over represented among those who died of direct deaths compared to those who died of indirect deaths, iii) the need for clinical guidance for the care of women with obesity in pregnancy.

The study looked at women who had a body mass index of 35 or more, with 18 to 25 classed as healthy, 25
30 classed as overweight and 30 to 35 obese.  A woman of average 5'5 height would weigh at least 15 stone or 95 kgs to have a BMI of 35 and be classed as severely obese. 

Evidence derived from the report highlighted that women with obesity have an increased risk of pregnancy-related complications and adverse outcomes compared to women with a healthy BMI.  These primarily include higher levels of fetal abnormality, hypertensive disorders, blood pressure problems, diabetes thrombosis, induction of labour, caesarean section and neonatal death.  The report highlighted that stillbirth rate was twice as high for women with a BMI of 35 or more and they were four times as likely to suffer a haemorrhage after birth. 

However, the report also revealed that despite the large number of obese women, maternity units are "under prepared" and do not have the necessary resources to care for obese pregnant women.  It was reported that there is a lack of extra wide wheelchairs, examination couches, trolleys and beds.  With almost one in five obstetric units not having operating tables to bear the extra weight.

Dr Imogen Stephens, CMACE Clinical Director said: “This CMACE report shows that much more needs to be done in the NHS to deal with the growing numbers of obese pregnant women."

"The findings from this new study show that the risks of clinical intervention increase with increasing levels of obesity and that specialist obstetric care is needed. All this requires improved, and better integrated, care for these women”. 

However, the CMACE report also recommended that GP's and primary care health professionals need to do more to encourage women to lose weight and adopt a healthier lifestyle before they conceive. 

Dr Tony Falconer, President of the Royal College if Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) said: “Pregnant women who are obese need to know about the associated risks for them and their baby and must be supported to lose weight before they embark on pregnancy. This will involve counselling and advice from a range of healthcare professionals including GPs, midwives, maternity support workers and nutritionists.
"We need to think about being more proactive by encouraging and enabling women to lead healthier lives before they fall pregnant and after giving birth so that they take a more long-term approach to being healthy."

Professor Cathy Warwick, General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives said “There is wider and long-term public health message here. There is a real need to reduce obesity in the population as a whole, tackling the issue before women become pregnant.”

To read the full CMACE report please click here

Family Breakdown - One in Two Children Will See Parents Split

A new study published by the Bristol Community Trust (BCFT) and the Centre for Social Justice, found that nearly one in two children born today will experience family breakdown by the age of 16. 

The latest figures from the report titled "Family breakdown in the UK : It's not about divorce" reveals that there has been a ten percent increase in family breakdown over the past decade to forty-eight percent.  The report concludes that divorce is not the main cause for family breakdown and that in fact it only contributed to twenty percent of break-ups.    

Gavin Poole, executive director of the CJS says that "these new figures underline the alarming and growing level of family breakdown in the UK.  This imposes huge costs on society - both in terms of human unhappiness and financial burdens." 
It has been documented that children from broken homes not only perform less well at school but are more likely to turn to drugs, alcohol and crime. 

Harry Benson, author of the report and director of the BCFT, believes that the new findings demonstrate the need for policy solutions focused on improving stability among unmarried new parents.  These include re establishing the need for and importance of marriage, as well as prioritising a national programme of relationship education.

The BCFT have been running a relationship programme locally, "lets stick together" that has succeeded in helping 30 percent of all new parents.  However Gavin Poole proposes that more needs to be done nationally to help strengthen relationships "new steps such as tax breaks for marriage and far better relationship education, should be taken by Ministers and society at large to reverse these worrying social trends."

For a copy of the report click here

Quitting Smoking Can Make You Feel Happier

The notion that smoking helps relieves emotions such as anxiety and depression is a myth, say researchers at Brown University.  People are known to smoke when they are feeling stressed in an attempt to relieve tension.  However a study published in the Nicotine & Tobacco Research, indicates that people who are in the process of giving up smoking have never felt happier!

Christopher Kahler, corresponding author of "Time-Varying Smoking Abstinence Predicts Lower Depressive Symptoms Following Smoking Cessation Treatment" says smokers thinking of quitting should be encouraged by the double benefit - both physical and mental.  Not only will giving up smoking improve your physical health but evidence suggests that your mental health is also likely to improve.  Therefore, stopping smoking is far from a psychological nightmare done to live longer, Kahler added.

Kahler noted that "The assumption has often been that people might smoke because it has anti-depressant properties and that if they quit it might unmask a depressive episode.  What's surprising is that at the time when you measure smokers' mood, even if they've only succeeded for a little while, they are already reporting less symptoms of depression."

Scientists at the Peninsula Medical School in the UK, in a study called the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, assessed the wellbeing of nearly 10,000 people over the age of 50.  It was found that smokers in that group reported lower average levels of pleasure and less satisfaction with their lives than the non smokers.   The lead researcher on the team, Iain Lang, reported that smokers feel pleasure when they initially light up.  But that's because they're feeding their addiction.  Overall they're not any happier than non smokers.  In fact, they're less so.

For more information on ways to quit smoking click here.

 

Have your say on the development of Competencies and Professional Standards for Health Promotion Capacity Building in Europe (CompHP project)

The CompHP Project, funded by the European Agency for Health and Consumers (EAHC), aims to develop competency-based standards and an accreditation system for health promotion practice, education and training that will positively impact on workforce capacity to deliver public health improvement in Europe. The project uses consensus-building approach to establish means and methods by which quality governance standards in Health Promotion can be implemented across Europe to stimulate innovation and best practice.

As part of the project, an online consultation on Draft 4 of the Core Competencies Framework will be running until 10^th December 2010.

The feedback from this round of consultation will be used to inform the final draft of the CompHP Core Competencies Framework which will be published as a handbook in early 2011.

To participate in the consultation please read Draft 4 of the CompHP Core Competencies Framework and then give your feedback answering a short questionnaire and using the online open discussion hosted by IUHPE

For more information about the ComHP project please visit the website 

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Please Nelly Araujo and let us know your feedback and any events or news that you consider might be relevant to colleagues working in health promotion.

Raising Awareness for World Aids Day


Yesterday, December 1st 2010 was World Aids Day.  World Aids Day, which has been running for 22 years, is about raising awareness, improving education and getting rid of prejudice.  The theme for this year is "Universal Access and Human Rights" and is essential for reminding people that HIV is still very much in existence and that there are many things still to be done.



The Facts
Currently in the UK more people than ever are living with HIV and every year new infections occur.
Figures from UNAIDS reveal that over the past ten years people living with HIV has trebled in the UK.  There are more than 90,000 people who have HIV, of which two thirds are men and one third are women.  Over a quarter of people with HIV in the UK are undiagnosed.  Globally the picture is the same, with HIV cases rising each year.  There is an estimated 33.3 million people living with HIV worldwide, including 2.5 million children.  Last year, statistics indicated that 2.6 million people became newly infected with the virus and around 1.8 million people died from AIDS.


Consequently, leaders around the world have pledged to work towards universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and care and these are now perceived as fundamental human rights.  It is believed that by promoting individual human rights, new infections can be prevented and people who have HIV can live free of discrimination.  


In raising awareness about sexually transmitted infections, the RSPH are running a introductory course on Sexual Health and Young people.  The one day event will consider issues related to the sexual health needs of young people, as well as equipping participants with the knowledge of sexually transmitted infections and how best to incorporate talking about sex and relationships into everyday working practice.

For further information on the one day course click here  or contact Nicolette Smith

For further information on World Aids Day click here