NICHS does believe that prevention is better than cure and that we have to work across government departments and with other partner to achieve health and well-being and reduce inequalities for the people of NI. Our specific goal is to help prevent avoidable chest, heart and stroke conditions.
We also believe that more investment and priority should be directed to promoting healthy lifestyles for our young people, our next generation.
Obesity and Physical Activity
Roughly a quarter of adults (27%) were obese with a further two-fifths (37%) classed as overweight. It is clear that there is an obesity problem and that as people age this is likely to turn into a ‘time-bomb’ by imposing more and more demands on the health and social care system.
We believe a concerted suite of measures is necessary to combat obesity. NICHS prioritises measures which can be introduced at a regional and local level while supporting a range of measures that need to be brought forward at and UK or even EU level.
This requires action on food and physical activity.
- NICHS supports action across these areas for example we believe primary schools should provide two hours a week of quality PE to every pupil.
Alcohol
NICHS fully support the efforts of the government as they seek to combat the impact of alcohol consumption in the general population and we look forward to the implementation of such strategy in Northern Ireland. We fully support any developments that can help people make better decisions about drinking
- We support the introduction of Minimum Unit Pricing. We believe this would help combat the issue of the very small number of drinkers who drink extreme amounts of very cheap alcohol.
