Poor health dogs area’s residents
70 per cent are overweight - a third obese
Thousands of people i n R u t h e rglen and Cambuslang are dogged with poor health, according to new figures.
Statistics released by the Scottish Government show just under a third of the population are obese while seven in 10 of us are classed as overweight, compared with the Scottish average of 65 per cent.
A shocking 31 per cent of people suffer from a life limiting long term illness while just under a quarter consume a ‘harmful’ amount of booze.
The figures form part of the Scottish Health Survey, published last week, and relate to the NHS Lanarkshire region that the two towns are part of.
Just 17 per cent of people eat the recommended five a day fruit and veg with 11 per cent admitting to eating none at all.
While 22 per cent of the population smoke, 23 per cent take part in only very low amounts of physical activity.
However, nationwide there were areas of improvement relating to smoking and child obesity.
Brendan Rooney, chief executive of Healthy n Happy Community Development Trust, warned the information had to be “considered carefully along with other available information.”
He added: “There are some worrying trends in this report but there are some positive trends too and we should be careful not to alarm or stress people with negatives only.
“Local residents, groups and communities need to be meaningfully involved in addressing issues that affect their health and this needs to be supported by more and continued investment from the Scottish Government and local statutory agencies.
“Change is clearly required and it’s needed now to prevent our society’s health getting worse.
“There is a wide range of good work going on throughout our two towns by many local groups and agencies and here at Healthy n Happy we have a wide range of services and activities that enable and generate positive health and well-being for individuals, families, groups and communities.”
Clare Haughey MSP also said there were aspects of the report that were positive.
She said: “I welcome the fact that there is such a dramatic reduction in the number of children exposed to second-hand smoke in the home – meeting our target five years ahead of time.
“We launched our Take it Right Outside campaign because we know how harmful these chemicals can be for children’s lungs. This will have a dramatic impact on the health of children currently and in the future.
“Elsewhere, I’m pleased to see increases in the proportion of children at a healthy weight. Also, it is encouraging to see a continued decrease in the smoking rate.
“However, many of these indicators are static, or not improving as quickly as we want. This government is committed to bringing forward new strategies for obesity, mental health, oral health and alcohol. We also remain committed to introducing minimum unit pricing to tackle the damage which high strength low cost alcohol causes in our communities.”
Healthy n Happy to host loch event, see page 25.