2009 Press Releases
Obesity epidemic strain on public finances
29.09.2009
An obesity epidemic is set to place significant strain on public expenditure in the coming decades unless effective means of tackling it are found, according to the Director of the Centre of Excellence for Public Health, based at Queen’s University.
29.09.2009
An obesity epidemic is set to place significant strain on public expenditure in the coming decades unless effective means of tackling it are found, according to the Director of the Centre of Excellence for Public Health, based at Queen’s University.
The warning came ahead of a two-day all-Ireland conference at Queen’s this week (Thursday and Friday, 1 and 2 October) set to be attended by internationally renowned experts who will share their knowledge on interventions to improve public health with students, researchers, practitioners and policy makers.
The Autumn School is being organised by the Centre of Excellence and its partner, the Institute for Public Health for Ireland, in collaboration with the HRB funded National Research Centre for Diet, Obesity and Diabetes, which is led by Professor Ivan Perry at University College Cork.
Professor Frank Kee, the Director of the Centre of Excellence for Public Health in Northern Ireland – a £5m centre opened last year under the umbrella of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC), has warned against quick fixes in drugs and medicines to improve public health.
He said: “Most of the major public health challenges facing us today require health professionals and politicians to act on a much broader front at the underlying determinants of ill health”.
“Whether it be the rising tide of obesity and diabetes or the necessity for contingency planning during a pandemic, many of the challenges of today’s chronic diseases require systems- wide approaches and an appreciation of the complexity of the relationships between individuals, different sectors of society, the underlying social norms that drive behaviour and the role of the economy and politics in shaping the health of the population”.
“So there has never been a better time than now to consolidate and enhance what we know in this field. These are the very sorts of problems that requires systems-wide solutions, effecting change in the way we live our lives – and not just in what we put in our mouths.”
The Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety NI is also one of the partners in the Centre of Excellence. Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has stressed the importance of public in reforms of the health service and earlier this year the Assembly gave its approval to a new streamlined structure for health and social care. This includes establishing innovative organisations, such as the Regional Agency for Public Health and Social Well-being, to drive forward the public health agenda and tackle health inequalities.
The event is being funded by the Centre of Excellence for Public Health NI and an award from the Department for Employment and Learning’s all-island research infrastructure funding programme: ‘Strengthening the All-Island Research Base’.
Picture shows L-R: Professor Jane Wilde CBE, Institute of Public Health in Ireland, Professor Ivan Perry, HRB Centre for Health and Diet Research, UCC and Dr Elizabeth Keane, Director of Public Health, HSE who are chairing and speaking at sessions at the Sixth Population Health Autumn School in Queen’s University Belfast.
RMcD
The Autumn School is being organised by the Centre of Excellence and its partner, the Institute for Public Health for Ireland, in collaboration with the HRB funded National Research Centre for Diet, Obesity and Diabetes, which is led by Professor Ivan Perry at University College Cork.
Professor Frank Kee, the Director of the Centre of Excellence for Public Health in Northern Ireland – a £5m centre opened last year under the umbrella of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC), has warned against quick fixes in drugs and medicines to improve public health.
He said: “Most of the major public health challenges facing us today require health professionals and politicians to act on a much broader front at the underlying determinants of ill health”.
“Whether it be the rising tide of obesity and diabetes or the necessity for contingency planning during a pandemic, many of the challenges of today’s chronic diseases require systems- wide approaches and an appreciation of the complexity of the relationships between individuals, different sectors of society, the underlying social norms that drive behaviour and the role of the economy and politics in shaping the health of the population”.
“So there has never been a better time than now to consolidate and enhance what we know in this field. These are the very sorts of problems that requires systems-wide solutions, effecting change in the way we live our lives – and not just in what we put in our mouths.”
The Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety NI is also one of the partners in the Centre of Excellence. Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has stressed the importance of public in reforms of the health service and earlier this year the Assembly gave its approval to a new streamlined structure for health and social care. This includes establishing innovative organisations, such as the Regional Agency for Public Health and Social Well-being, to drive forward the public health agenda and tackle health inequalities.
The event is being funded by the Centre of Excellence for Public Health NI and an award from the Department for Employment and Learning’s all-island research infrastructure funding programme: ‘Strengthening the All-Island Research Base’.
Picture shows L-R: Professor Jane Wilde CBE, Institute of Public Health in Ireland, Professor Ivan Perry, HRB Centre for Health and Diet Research, UCC and Dr Elizabeth Keane, Director of Public Health, HSE who are chairing and speaking at sessions at the Sixth Population Health Autumn School in Queen’s University Belfast.
RMcD