Live Well UK wins NHS Suffolk healthy lifestyles service provision
‘Getting Suffolk even fitter and healthier’ – that’s the message from healthy lifestyles organisation Live Well UK and NHS Suffolk. Live Well UK has been awarded the contract by NHS Suffolk to deliver healthy lifestyle services in the county from 1 April 2011. In Suffolk, the project will be known as Live Well Suffolk. (read more)
Obesity rates in UK regions the highest in Europe
In an influential health and lifestyle study, the UK has recorded the highest levels of obesity and teenage pregnancy. Data revealed that 29% of adults in the West Midlands are classed as obese – the highest figure of any region in the EU and double the EU average of 14%, narrowly beating the North East of England (28%) to the dubious accolade of being the fattest region in Europe.
The UK also has one of the highest levels of teenage pregnancy out of the 27 nations studied, with the highest rate in the country found in the North East, where 2.7% of all births last year occurred among girls under 18.
Source: The Nursing Times, 15th December 2010.
Coalition Government likely to stand by ban on display of tobacco in shops
The government is planning to reverse its decision to ditch a ban on the display of tobacco in shops. The previous Labour government passed legislation in 2009 to ban retailers from having cigarettes on display from 2011, with the Coalition parties voting overwhelmingly against the proposals. However, the National Federation of Retail Newsagents has said the government plans to reverse its position despite the EU recently saying any ban would have a ‘substantial economic impact on tobacco retailers’.
The ban is part of a range of measures to decrease the uptake of smoking in young people. The vast majority of smokers start smoking either in their teens or early twenties.
Full Story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1317460/Coalition-stand-ban-display-tobacco-shops.html
Source: The Daily Mail online, 4th Oct
Fall in drug, tobacco and alcohol use among schoolchildren in England
The proportion of 11 to 15 year olds who have taken drugs on at least one occasion has fallen from 29% in 2001 to 22% last year. And the proportion who admit to having ever used alcohol has dropped from 61% in 2003 to 51% in 2009. But the biggest decline has been in smoking. When the study began in 1982 53% of participants said they had smoked at least once, down to 29% last year.
The findings were welcomed by doctors, health campaigners and the Department of Health, which said that better education, public health campaigns and action by agencies may be among the factors that explain the drop.
Link to the full ONS report: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/sdd09fullreport
Source: The Guardian, 22 July 2010
Third of children 'scared' by adult drinking
Nearly a third of UK children feel scared when they see adults drunk or drinking too much, a survey suggests.
(Half of the 1,234 10 to 14-year-olds surveyed by Childwise for BBC Newsround said they had seen their parents drunk.
Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10491057
Source: BBC, 4th July 2010