More outcomes from the WHO 8th Global Conference on Health Promotion in Helsinki

Finland leads the way in taking health into all policies

Created on Friday, 14 June 2013 09:16

Written by Nanette Forsström

Nearly 900 delegates from all over the world discussed during five days how political decisions on health are implemented into practical actions in the WHO 8th Global Conference on Health Promotion in Helsinki from 10 to 14 June.

The participants expressed their common understanding and commitment in the Helsinki Statement on Health in All Policies that was put out on the final day of the conference.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Susanna Huovinen is pleased with the outcome of the conference.

“We have deepened our understanding on the ways in which we can strengthen our efforts to integrate health in all policy-making, and thereby to improve health and health equity, as well as to acquire other societal goals.”

“This conference can mark a turning point in implementing Health in all policies at the various levels of policy-making and thus make a real difference. However, the changes will not happen automatically. We need to continue to work hard at all levels of policy-making.”

“We need to continue our efforts to bring about an understanding and will within our governments, politicians, other policy-makers, people and their organizations that health and health equity are important values and that they make a difference in the society. We may need to remind the government about their responsibilities for health”, minister Huovinen says.

“Today, we start to see the true power of this approach to influence factors that go beyond but are ultimately linked to health: issues of poverty, water and sanitation, safety and security, sustainable economic and social development,” said Dr Oleg Chestnov, Assistant Director-General, non-communicable diseases and mental health, World Health Organization.

“Putting health in all policies is the way to improve people’s chances for a healthy life, while, at the same time, achieve policy objectives in other areas.”

Health promotion and health in all policies are important priorities for Finland. Therefore Finland offered to host the conference, held in Helsinki this week.

“Finland is in the forefront to tackle health problems of the future because of our past and present actions and experiences in public health”, says Pekka Puska, Director General of the National Institute of Health and Welfare.   

“The public health improvement in Finland has been possible through dedicated and theory-based action involving many sectors, Puska continues”

The conference honoured former Director General of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health,Kimmo Leppo, the father of HiAP approach, for a lifetime achievement in health promotion.

The conference aroused a lot of interest in the civil society: more than a hundred people followed the conference webcasts daily and several thousands of messages were posted during the week on the electronic message wall at the conference main hall.

From healthpromotion2013.org

Read More

8th Global Conference on Health Promotion - Progress in bringing health into all policies

On the final day of the 8th Global Conference on Health Promotion, 14 June 2013, participants recognized the need for the health-in-all-policies approach to be central to the development agenda of countries, regions and cities. For the WHO European Region, this approach is an integral part of developing Health 2020 plans in countries.

Speaking on that day, Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe, explained how equity and the health-in-all-policies approach are key components of the European health policy framework, Health 2020. Noting countries’ differing capacities to move forward with the principles of the approach, Ms Jakab concluded, “We want to see Europe develop a truly whole-of-society approach to promote equity and improve governance for health.”

Europe Day

The last day of the Conference, Europe Day, was dedicated to showcasing national and subnational experience from the Region.

Sessions covering the life-course approach to health, better governance, noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors, the environment, tackling inequalities, and work and health delivered the following key messages.

• Improved monitoring of child health is needed, with common indicators.
• Gender differences in ageing require further analysis.
• Implementing the health-in-all-policies approach requires sufficient people, an engaged civil society and consistent, coordinated policy-making.
• Comprehensive legislation is a breakthrough in tobacco control, but vigilance is needed to monitor industry’s response.
• Complex public health problems, such as obesity, require complex solutions, such as active transport, which provides multiple and measurable health benefits.
• Policy-making on pricing, marketing and availability are the best ways to address alcohol misuse, but this requires international cooperation.
• In the workplace, multitasking is a health risk; time for action, idling, resting and recovering is important.
• Being healthy at work means having a longer working life.
• Salt consumption is very high in the European Union. Effective strategies to reduce it exist, and should focus on effective monitoring, reformulation of foods? and population awareness.
• Trends in mortality from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) reflect the impact of economic growth, recession and austerity policies. Cross-sectoral policies that address CVD, such as salt reduction, can affect mortality rates fast.

Lifetime Achievement in Health Promotion

On Thursday, 13 June 2013, Dr Kimmo Leppo, former Director-General of the Health Department at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in Finland, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement in Health Promotion award, in recognition of his role one of the founding fathers of the health promotion movement.

Dr Leppo was a member of the WHO Executive Board when the strategies for primary health care and Health for All were drafted in the 1970s. He drafted the world’s first truly comprehensive government bill for tobacco legislation in Finland in 1976, and he was responsible for the preliminary drafting of the Finnish Health for All strategy in the early 1980s.

Since retiring Dr Leppo has continued his professional career as both an international consultant and an author of scientific work on health policy.

From WHO Europe

Read More

The road so far

Today we bring you a very good 2011 video from WHO about  NCD's, but still very current to enlighten all about what NCD's are and what WHO does to fight it.

From, http://www.youtube.com/user/who

Read More

The Weight of the Nation - second part

Since a lot of people liked the first video, here is the second part of the HBO documentary The Weight of the Nation

For more information on The Weight of the Nation, visit http://hbo.com/theweightofthenation.

Connect with The Weight of the Nation on Facebook: http://facebook.com/theweightofthenation

Talking about it on Twitter? Follow @WeightoftheNtn and use #weightofthenation.

Read More

The Outcomes of the UN High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases

discussion of the outcomes of the UN high-level meeting and how member states and global health leaders intend to carry forward the push to reverse the emerging NCD epidemic. Dr. Nils Daulaire, Director of the Office of Global Health Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will kick off the event with a keynote address on the major achievements and outcomes of the high-level meeting, areas of unresolved tension and disagreement, and critical follow on steps over the next two years. Dr. Daulaire?s remarks will be followed by a panel of diverse commentators, including: Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, South African Ambassador to the United States Dr. Trevor Gunn, Senior Director of International Relations at Medtronic Dr. Peter Lamptey, President of Public Health Programs, FHI 360 Other individuals who have played a critical role in the NCD Alliance and the UN deliberations will be present in the audience and incorporated into the discussion for comment.

Read More

Spotlighting the NCD Problem

Today a video from 2011 about NCD's Created by Emma Curran and Julia Nagel

More information at smartglobalhealth.org

Read More

Diet, obesity and genes

The World Health Organization projects that by 2015, approximately 700 million adults will be obese. The Diogenes Project is one of the largest projects worldwide targeting the obesity problem from a dietary perspective.

Diogenes, an acronym for “Diet, Obesity and Genes” is one of the largest projects worldwide targeting the obesity problem from a dietary perspective. The Diogenes Team, with Professor Wim Saris from the University of Maastricht as its Executive Director, has performed multi-disciplinary, multi-center international research by integrating studies of dietary, genetic, physiological, psychological and food technological factors.

This project has a total budget of €21 million, including €14.5 million of European Union funding, and includes 32 partners across Europe — both (academic) research institutes and private companies. Final results will be available later this year.

Saris proudly reports on the successful integration of disciplines in the Diogenes Project. All research lines, from basic genetics up to food application, were connected to a large dietary intervention study in 8 countries, which included whole families with overweight, obese, and normal weight members. A central data hub facilitated standardization of protocols and data collection, storage of (and access to) collected research data, and the rapid and detailed analysis of the results. Furthermore, a bio bank containing, for example, plasma, adipose tissue and isolated DNA, was established.

Pan-European weight loss study

A healthcare worker assesses a child’s health.

The primary focus of Diogenes was an investigation into the role of the Glycemic Index (GI) of carbohydrates and the role of high protein content in relation to satiety enhancement. “We considered the role of fat in relation to weight to be sufficiently known,” Saris explains.

In foods with a reduced amount of fat, carbohydrate and/or protein levels will be elevated. Literature reveals that both GI and protein could be promising dietary factors for weight control with potential for the food industry.

“Literature, however, is conflicting with respect to GI effects,” Saris adds. “Therefore, for the first time, we conducted an intervention trial with respect to the effectiveness of GI and protein in prevention of weight (re)gain in an ad libitum setting.”

Long-term

The Diogenes Team managed a large, long-term, randomized, parallel dietary intervention study in eight geographic centers, in which 763 participating adults were successfully enrolled after losing more than 8% of their weight during an eightweek low-calorie diet.

After the weight loss phase of the selected adults, 565 families (763 adults and 787 children) were enrolled in the intervention study and randomly distributed into five study groups — each following different diets, either high or low in protein and/or high or low in GI carbohydrates. The fifth diet, the control diet, was based on national guidelines for a healthy diet. Special attention was paid to minimizing the burden for the children and to the potential risks associated with a high protein diet for children, in particular, with respect to growth and metabolism.

Families

In two centers (Maastricht and Copenhagen), supermarkets set up for the study provided whole families with free food for the first six months. In the subsequent six months, the same subjects only received dietary advice and support. The other six centers provided families with six months of dietary advice and support only.

The supermarket dietary intervention had been validated to allow a strict compliance to a targeted diet composition with a concomitant allowance of variable energy intake. All food items in the supermarkets were commercially available and barcoded. A dietician scanned the barcodes of all the chosen items in order to monitor macronutrient composition of the diet and assisted in altering the selection to meet the prescribed diet composition.

The calculated energy content of the chosen groceries was not made known to the subjects. Outcome measures like weight (regain) and (changes in) BMI, waist circumference, waist/hip circumference ratio, body fat (%), risk factors of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease and satiety factors were determined. Physical activity was registered.

High protein content favorable

Although complete analysis of the results is still pending, interesting results already have been obtained from the two well-controlled supermarket centers.

Read More

Vienna conference on nutrition and noncommunicable diseases

WHO European Ministerial Conference on Nutrition and Noncommunicable Diseases in the Context of Health 2020

4–5 July 2013, Vienna, Austria

Tasty, nutritional food is key to good health and well-being. Yet today, poor diet, overweight and obesity contribute to a large proportion of noncommunicable diseases, which account for 8 out of 10 deaths in the WHO European Region.

• How can we prevent obesity from becoming a new norm for children?
• Does giving better information to consumers (for example, through product labelling) lead to a better diet?
• What support do people need at different stages of their lives to make healthy food choices?
• What difference do marketing controls, food prices, bans and subsidies make?

Health ministers, experts and representatives of civil-society and intergovernmental organizations will meet in Vienna on 4–5 July 2013 to raise such questions and discuss policies on diet, nutrition and physical activity to address them.

The increases in childhood obesity, marketing of unhealthy food and consumption of processed food high in salt, sugar and fat have resulted in an explosion in obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Confronting this situation requires putting health at the heart of policy-making, following the principles of governance and equity set down in Health 2020, the European policy for health and well-being.

More info @ WHO-Europe.

Read More

The Weight of The Nation - Consequences! HBO Documentary

Today i bring you a HBO documentary about obesity in the USA.

This is the first part of four.

 For more information on The Weight of the Nation, visithttp://hbo.com/theweightofthenation.

Connect with The Weight of the Nation on Facebook:http://facebook.com/theweightofthenation

Talking about it on Twitter? Follow @WeightoftheNtn and use #weightofthenation.

Read More

NCDFREE EUROPE CHALLENGE

On July 4th, Ministers from across Europe will gather in Vienna, Austria and together with the World Health Organization, European Office, discuss the health issues that affect the European Community.

Over 4 days, action on NCDs will be discussed and explored at the highest level.

And you have a chance to join them in Vienna to make a call for action!

Grab your iPhone, smartphone or camera and record 15 seconds of footage of yourself or your organisation on a background that represents your work in NCDs or your city (read tips for filming below).

Then upload your film here and answer three questions – your opportunity to talk directly to your Ministers and tell then what you really want for NCDs!

The crowdsourced footage from around the world will form a call to action film to be shown in Vienna to the entire conference – the best 2 entrants will join NCDFREE at the Austria launch!

Entries close on June 8th so get filming and have your voice heard!

Some tips on filming:

1. Place the camera or phone on something, on its side (landscape format).
2. Look into the camera during filming.
3. Keep the camera or phone perfectly still (the background can be moving but we want you and the camera still)
4. Film in good light – often late afternoon or sunset is best for outdoors, or a time when there is lots of natural light.
5. Don’t worry about sound, we will not use the sound from the video.

From NCD FREE

Read More

The evolution of Obesity

The evolution of Obesity

During the history of human evolution the process of accumulation of body fat was being selected because it was beneficial in an environment where food was scarce and the periods in which an individual could pass without finding an appropriate source of nutrition were frequent and long (Speakman , 2007; Prentice et al., 2008, Carvalho, 2009).

More recently, from the evolutionary point of view, two major changes that the introduction of agriculture brought were regular exposure to famine and development of social hierarchies that result in a differential exposure to environmental stresses (Wells, 2006). There are certain normal stereotypes that were created as "fat is beauty" or "eat like an abbot," for the accumulation of fat was a sign of health, status and wealth.

With the rise of industrialization occurred transport improvements, significant reduction of physical effort labor and access to high-calorie and mass production food, which was creating an increasingly obesogenic environment (Bellisari, 2008). With this improvements of living conditions and access to nutritional sources, especially in the last 30 years of the twentieth century in developed countries and more recently in developing countries, this feature is no longer beneficial and was becoming a problem (Bellisari , 2008; Carvalho, 2009).

In 1998 the World Health Organization has recognized obesity as a chronic disease, affecting both developed and developing countries, and adults and children alike. It is a major public health problem and is overcome problems such as malnutrition and infectious diseases (WHO, 1998).

Encarnação, 2011: Breakfast skipping and Obesity in Portuguese school children: Association with behavioral and family characteristics - unpublished Master thesis in Human Evolution and Biology, Coimbra University

Read More

“What could I have done to prevent my cancer?”

“What could I have done to prevent my cancer?” 

 This question was posed to me by a mother living in a small hut on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda. The nurse informed me that the women had advanced colorectal cancer and was no longer responding to treatment. I found myself at a loss for words. I was accompanying the mobile palliative care team at Hospice Africa Uganda on their weekly rounds to distribute free morphine. As the nurse shared key cancer prevention strategies - early screening, avoiding tobacco, eating healthy and regular exercise - the woman pledged to educate others in her village, offering hope that her experience with cancer could be used to empower and educate her peers. Eight months after moving to Uganda, the overwhelming statistics that framed my perception of these conditions have been replaced by human stories. Poverty is the narrative of these stories, and the poor and vulnerable are the central characters. An increasing body of research supports this observation – studies in South Africa found a higher mortality from chronic diseases among the urban poor, who were also disproportionately exposed to their risk factors[1][2].

 Uganda, like most low- and middle-income countries, has now recognized the urgency of taking action. The Uganda NCD Alliance was launched by a group of organizations to unite the country’s response to chronic diseases. A key milestone was achieved with the launch of its new patient support centre in Kampala on 2nd May, which brought together nurses, counsellors, and survivors to screen local residents. The message was simple – although people living with cancer, diabetes, and hypertension have different needs, we can have a huge impact by working together to prevent them. Hundreds were screened, and those deemed at high risk were provided with counselling and education services. Attendees were given the opportunity to access further services and receive training as peer educators. The Uganda NCD Alliance believes this model can be replicated across all countries. Integration should not stop here – chronic disease screening should be built into every primary care, maternal health, and HIV/AIDS clinic in Uganda. Early screening has benefits far beyond prevention – cancer, hypertension, and diabetes are vastly easier to treat if identified early. While Uganda is still writing its story, the ending will depend on building a health system that puts a country’s most important resource front and centre – its people.

 [1] Vorster HH. The emergence of cardiovascular disease during urbanisation of Africans. Public Health Nutrition, 2002; 5(1A):239–243.
 [2] Bradshaw S, Steyn K. Poverty and chronic diseases in South Africa. Cape Town, Medical Research Council of South Africa and WHO, 2001.


A paper by Greg Paton, a Technical Advisor in Uganda NCD Alliance 
Twitter @gregjpaton

Read More