Tayside launches Scotland’s first
Healthy Weight Strategy
IN A BID to tackle the largest public health problem facing the UK, NHS Tayside’s Public Health Directorate has led the Health Weight Strategy to help co-ordinate action across the region to drive down obesity levels. People living in Tayside, along with community groups and organisations, are being asked for their views on the issue of obesity and overweight before the final Strategy report goes before NHS Tayside Board this Spring.
A four-page summary of the Strategy report, which explains why obesity is such a concern, along with proposals to tackle it, will be distributed to more than 80,000 households across Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross over the next few weeks. This asks people to answer questions about how they view the problem of obesity, and what they think about the proposals. It includes extra space for suggestions and ideas on how obesity and overweight could be tackled in Tayside.
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Copies will also be available from GP surgeries and libraries, and people can return the bulletin with their comments by freepost, email or telephone direct. NHS Tayside’s Director of Public Health, Dr Drew Walker, said: “Obesity is a huge public health problem facing Scotland, and we are very much committed to doing everything we can to slow down, and eventually reverse the trend.
“More than half of adults and one in ten children in Tayside are either overweight or obese, and this has now overtaken smoking as the biggest public health problem in Scotland today.
“The Healthy Weight Strategy reveals that, while overweight and obesity have often been seen as an over-nutrition problem, it is now clear that at least half of the problem relates to lack of physical activity.
“If this is allowed to go on unchecked then obesity and overweight will lead to major increases in a number of chronic conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.”
Developed by Dr Carrie Ruxton, from the Board’s Public Health Directorate, the strategy addresses the need for co-ordinated and sustained efforts from a wide-range of organisations as well as communities and individuals themselves. Dr Walker added: “We are very much hoping that people across Tayside will take the time to have a look at our four-page document which summarises the Strategy very clearly, and then let us know what they think about it.”
The full strategy document is available from NHS Tayside’s Public Health Directorate website at www.taysidepublichealth.com.To share your views or request a copy of the 4-page summary, email healthyweight@thb.scot.nhs.uk, telephone freephone 0800 027 0852, or write to Dr Drew Walker, Director of Public Health, Tayside NHS Board, Freepost SE 06181, Dundee, DD3 8ZR
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