The overall aim of this EU project was to contribute to halting the rise of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents by 2020. JANPA stands for “Joint Action on Nutrition and Physical Activity”.

Considerable work has been done on the healthcare costs of adult obesity. Impacts of childhood obesity, however, are rarely included in such obesity costing studies. More work was necessary to understand the impacts of childhood obesity as well as exploring non-healthcare (societal) costs in more detail. JANPA Work Package 4 starts to fill this gap by “developing the evidence-based economic rationale for action on childhood obesity”.

The technical objectives of Work Package 4 are:

• to describe the lifetime impact and cost of childhood obesity
• to assess the benefits of reducing childhood obesity by 1% and 5%.

This was attempted in seven European countries.

Professor Kevin Balanda (kevin.balanda@publichealth.ie) led JANP WP4. The JANPA WP4 costing model was implemented in an adaptation of the UKHF’s existing software.

JANPA WP4 was a very challenging project and its final deliverables are now available. In particular, final figures for Ireland and Northern Ireland are presented in Deliverable D4.6.

Ireland’s survival rates for cancer patients have improved significantly – latest figures published by The Lancet

Public Health Alcohol Bill to return to the Oireachtas this week

The Minister for Health, Simon Harris has stressed the importance of taking steps, as a society, to prevent cancer. The Minister was marking World Cancer Day, which takes place every year on the 4th of February.

Minister Harris said “Ireland is making significant strides in cancer control. The latest figures published by The Lancet confirm we are moving up the global rankings and cancer survival rates here have improved significantly. Five-year survival rates for cancer have improved from 44.2% (1994-1998) to 61.1% (2010-2014).

“The National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026 aims to ensure that survival rates in Ireland continue to improve and that, over the lifetime of this Strategy, Irish survival rates will reach the top quartile in Europe. In achieving this we must also ensure that our services meet the needs of those living with and beyond cancer, from diagnosis and treatment to psycho-social support post-treatment. I am delighted to see a focus on improving the quality of life for cancer survivors through World Cancer Day”

The National Cancer Registry of Ireland has released its 22^nd annual statistical report. This report  summarises cancer incidence, mortality and survival in Ireland for the period 1994-2015, and provides projected estimates for incidence for the most recent three-year period: 2015-2017.  The cumulative lifetime risk (to age 75 years) of an invasive cancer diagnosis was approximately 1 in 3 for men and 1 in 4 for women. The absolute risk difference between the most and least deprived 20% of the population was highest for pancreatic (+14%), lung (+9%), colon (+8%), oesophageal (+8%), and ovarian cancers (+7%). Age-standardized rates of all invasive cancers (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC)) were 26% higher in men than in women. Overall, taking the first recorded invasive cancer (exc. NMSC) for each patient, the proportion of cases presenting as an emergency was 15% (of all cases whose admission type was known). The cancers with the highest proportion of emergency presentation were: pancreas (34%), lung (26%), ovary (24%) and colon (22%). For all cancer types, patients resident in the most deprived areas were more likely to present as an emergency. For all cancers examined, relative differences by deprivation were substantial, with patients from the most deprived group 25%-67% more likely to present as emergencies, depending on the cancer type (54% for all cancers combined). Similar data on cancer in Northern Ireland is available here.

Off to a good start? Primary school experiences and the transition to second-level education

Strong maths skills at primary level and positive student-teacher relationships at second level key to transition 

Growing Up in Ireland today (19 October 2017) publishes a new report from the study on young people’s transition from primary to second-level education: Off to a Good Start? Primary School Experiences and the Transition to Second-Level Education, by Emer Smyth, ESRI. The report is being launched by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone, TD, at an event held at the ESRI.

The transition to second-level education is a major landmark in young people’s lives, as they adjust to new teachers, new school subjects and new friends. Off to a Good Start? looks at the way in which primary school experiences can provide a crucial foundation for a successful transition to second-level education. The findings are based on interviews conducted with young people when they were 9 and 13 years of age, as well as interviews with their parents and questionnaires completed by their principals and teachers. The report emphasises young people’s own views and perspectives, highlighting important issues for policy development and school practice.