Media Release: Welsh Health Survey indicates a “public health time bomb” – Darren Millar AM

Responding to today’s publication of the Welsh Government’s Welsh Health Survey, Welsh Conservative health spokesman Darren Millar AM said:

“Today’s report paints a bleak picture for the health of our nation, and is a very real indicator of the Welsh Government’s failure to get a handle on what is fast becoming a public health time bomb.

“Alarmingly, worsening from last year, one in every four adults in Wales is now classed as obese.

“A contributing factor to this is that less than a third of people are eating fruit and veg or taking regular exercise, and 40% of people are drinking too much alcohol – the combination of which can be catastrophic for your health in the longer term.

“To compound matters, one-in-five people in Wales still smoke, and only 6% of adults use an e-cigarettes which is widely accepted as being one of the best ways to achieve a cessation in smoking.

“Research from Cardiff University has shown the benefits that following a healthy lifestyle – taking regular exercise, non-smoking, a healthy bodyweight, a healthy diet and a low alcohol intake – is integral to having the best chance of leading a disease-free lifestyle. It is high time that the government heeded this advice.

“It is vital to health of our nation and the future of our health service that the new Deputy Minister for Public Health uses her post to drive forward preventative initiatives, which have to date simply not worked, as this report glaringly demonstrates.”