Take part in health survey

WALES’ Chief Medical Officer is calling for more young people and males to play their part in shaping the future health of the nation by participating in the largest Welsh population health study ever undertaken.

Backed by the Welsh Government and led by Cardiff University, HealthWise Wales was launched in 2016 to study the health and wellbeing of people in Wales and help plan health services for the future.

As well as gathering general health data, the purpose of HealthWise Wales is to gather information on specific health issues to improve future treatments and insights.

Since launching, the study has also issued focused surveys to participants on areas including oral and mental health, sun-bed use, antenatal care, bowel cancer and the reuse of medicines.

More than 17,000 participants have signed up to the survey so far, and analysis of data supplied by the first 10,000 shows that 16 to 24-year-olds make up just 12% of respondents, compared with 57% who are aged between 45 and 65-plus, and that 75% respondents are female.

Now Chief Medical Officer Dr Frank Atherton is emphasising the importance of diversity among participants to increase the breadth of data available for analysis.

To encourage sign-ups, the health initiative has recently launched a new national advertising campaign which features an animated film that is currently being shown on TV, social and digital channels.

To find out more and to join the study, visit www.healthwisewales. gov.wales or call the HealthWise Wales team on 0800 9 172 172/029 2076 8090 between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday.