Opportunity to shape the prevention and management of obesity

Cooperation and Working Together (CAWT), the cross border health and social care partnership has been working with the Departments of Health to progress a three year cross border obesity prevention and management project aimed at families. They have been successful in securing funding from the EU INTERREG IVA programme. A planning workshop focussing on this will be held on Friday 26 June 2009.

IPH Response to Dept of Justice and Equality Review of the Code of Practice on the Sale and Display of Alcohol in Mixed Trading Premises

IPH responded to the Department of Justice, Equality and Defence review of the voluntary Code of Practice for the display and sale of alcohol in supermarkets, convenience stores and similar mixed trading outlets. The voluntary Code was introduced in 2008 as an alternative to the statutory rules for structural separation of alcohol products in mixed trading outlets which are set out in section 9 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2008. Interested bodies and individuals were invited to submit comments on the Compliance Report for 2011 and on the effectiveness of the voluntary approach to structural separation by 20th December 2011. The Minister said he intended to also seek the views of the Minister for Health and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality before reaching any decision on whether to bring the statutory rules in the 2008 Act into operation.

Equality Impact Assessment of the Oral Health Strategy (PDF 120 KB)

The Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 requires the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to provide or secure the provision of health services in Northern Ireland designed to promote the physical and mental health of the community through the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness. This includes the provision of oral health care. åÊ åÊ

View of Clinical Genetic Services in Northern Ireland - Equality Impact Assessment (PDF 306 KB)

Public Consultation on the Future Development of Clinical Genetic Services - Part II (Equality Impact Assessment)

Les urgences: une opportunité d'accès a des interventions préventives en partenariat avec les médecins de premier recours [Preventive medicine in emergency centres: an opportunity of partnership for emergency physicians and primary care physicians].

Whereas preventive interventions for primary care physicians are now well established, the preventive interventions in emergency departments have been only partially and recently evaluated. Emergency departments probably represent however an opportunity for preventive medicine. Indeed, the population, sometimes vulnerable, consulting emergency departments, frequently presents risks factors and risks behaviours. Moreover, the concept of "teachable moment" and the studies recently performed seem to confirm this hypothesis. This article review the currently preventive interventions recommended in emergency departments and discuss the rationale to implement preventive medicine in emergency departments and the limits of this process.

Review of Key Issues in Relation to Equality in the HPSS (PDF 296 KB)

The aim of this paper is to highlight the key issues as expressed by representative groups in research material and consultation responses received by the Department. Initially the majority of the issues identified have been gleaned from documentation such as press releases, research reports and a literature review commissioned by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety. åÊ

Equality Implications of HSSPS Polices

The overall objective of the Health, Social Services and Public Safety (HSSPS) family is to promote and improve the health, social wellbeing and safety of the whole population. The bodies which make up the HSSPS family are the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS), four Health and Social Services Boards, nineteen HSS Trusts, five specialist agencies, the Mental Health Commission, four HSS Councils, the Northern Ireland Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education, the National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting and the Fire Authority for Northern Ireland. The Mental Health Commission and the National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting are at different stages in their equality work and are not therefore included in this document. They will be consulting separately. åÊ

A method for testing the host specificity of ectoparasites: give them the opportunity to choose

Host-choice experiments were carried out with rodent and bat ectoparasites on Ilha Grande, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We constructed experimental chambers that enclosed three different rodent or bat host species, and then introduced a selected set of ectoparasitic arthropods. When given the opportunity to choose among host species, the ectoparasites showed a strong tendency to select their primary hosts, and reject novel host species. These kinds of simple experiments can be valuable tools for assessing the ability of ectoparasites to locate and discern differences between host species, and make choices about which hosts to infest, and which hosts to avoid.

Premier épisode thymique: cas particulier de l'intervention dans la phase précoce des troubles bipolaires [First episode of mood disorders: an opportunity for early intervention in bipolar disorders].

While early intervention strategies have been developed for psychotic disorders, affective psychoses and bipolar disorders have been neglected by this movement. However, when considering that outcome of bipolar disorders is often not as favorable as previously thought and that delay between illness onset and introduction of an adequate treatment is often very long, such developments seem clearly justified. In this paper we briefly review arguments supporting early intervention in bipolar disorders, the practical and theoretical obstacles that still need to be overcome, the strategies that may already now contribute to decrease treatment delay, and we describe current state of research regarding identification of the prodromal phase of bipolar disorders.

Social bases of changing income distributions

On the backdrop of very little sociological concern with rising income inequality, this paper examines how key changes in sociodemographic behaviour may help shed additional light on changes in household income distribution and especially on long-term income dynamics and inter-generational mobility. The paper argues that the joint effect of rising marital homogamy in terms of human capital and labour supply contributes generally to widen the income gap between households. Only uner very restrictive conditions, namely when the labour supply of low educated women grows dis-proportionally fast, will women's earnings contribute to more equality. Finally, the paper suggests that women's rising employment commitments contribute positively to equalizing the opportunity structure both via the income effect and if quality care is available, also via more homogenous cultural and cognitive stimulation of children. Mother's work does not generally have adverse effects for children's development.

Asymmetries in the opportunity structure. Intergenerational mobility trends in Europe

It remains unclear whether social mobility is increasing in the advancednations. The answer may depend on mobility patterns within very recentbirth cohorts. We use the inter-generational module in the 2005 EUSILCwhich allows us to include more recent cohorts. Comparingacross two Nordic and three Continental European countries, weestimate inter-generational mobility trends for sons both indirectly, viasocial origin effects on educational attainment, and directly in terms ofadult income attainment. In line with other studies we find substantiallymore mobility in Scandinavia, but also that traditionally less mobilesocieties, like Spain, are moving towards greater equality. We focusparticularly on non-linear relations. Most interestingly, we revealevident asymmetries in the process of equalizing life chances, inDenmark. The disadvantages associated with low social class originshave largely disappeared, but the advantages related to privilegedorigins persist.

Prevalence of obesity and overweight and associated nutritional factors in a population-based Swiss sample: an opportunity to analyze the impact of three different European cultural roots.

PURPOSE: Obesity represents a growing public health concern worldwide. The latest data in Switzerland rely on self-reported body mass index (BMI), leading to underestimation of prevalence. We reassessed the prevalence of obesity and overweight in a sample of the Swiss population using measured BMI and waist circumference (WC) and explored the association with nutritional factors and living in different linguistic-cultural regions. METHODS: Data of 1,505 participants of a cross-sectional population-based survey in the three linguistic regions of Switzerland were analyzed. BMI and WC were measured, and a 24-h urine collection was performed to evaluate dietary sodium, potassium and protein intake. RESULTS: The prevalence of overweight, obesity and abdominal obesity was 32.2, 14.2 and 33.6 %, respectively. Significant differences were observed in the regional distribution, with a lower prevalence in the Italian-speaking population. Low educational level, current smoking, scarce physical activity and being migrant were associated with an higher prevalence of obesity. Sodium, potassium and protein intake increased significantly across BMI categories. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity and overweight affect almost half of the Swiss adolescents and adults, and the prevalence appears to increase. Using BMI and WC to define obesity led to different prevalences. Differences were furthermore observed across Swiss linguistic-cultural regions, despite a common socio-economic and governmental framework. We found a positive association between obesity and salt intake, with a potential deleterious synergistic effect on cardiovascular risk.

The Spanish motor industry in the first third of the 20th Century: A lost opportunity

The Spanish automobile industry had a late start. Although the country proved capable of short production runs of high-quality vehicles during the first third of the century it never managed to build up its own industry, unlike Great Britain, France, or Italy. What then, were the critical shortcomings that prevented the establishment of large Spanish motor manufacturers? Put another way, why did all of the companies set up during the first half-century fail to survive? This paper attempts to shed some light on these questions, employing a wide-ranging analysis of both internal and external factors affecting the industry. A feeble internal market, lack of resources and production factors are usually adduced as reasons, as are Spain's general economic backwardness and the role played by the public authorities. However, this paper mainly focuses on the internal factors concerning company strategy and organisation. A comparison with the Italian case helps put the traditional arguments in proper perspective and highlights those covering business strategies. Finally, we argue that a broad range of factors needs to be analysed to fully understand why Spain failed to establish a motor industry.