Pay children to stay healthy, urges expert
The radical proposal comes from Professor Niall Moyna of Dublin City University, who says that action is needed to promote better health among school-going children.
According to the professor of health and human performance, a simple incentive such as giving Leaving Certificate students who meet set health criteria a bursary of between €1,000 and €2,000 would save our health system billions in the long run.
“Ireland has the potential to be a model for the rest of the world,” he says.
Speaking at a Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) conference on the theme of Underactive and Overweight — Getting the Balance Right, Prof Moyna said while Irish children learn Irish five days a week in our schools, they don’t have physical education (PE) five days a week. “If we were to take five minutes off every class every day and devote this to PE, this would be a help,” he said. “We could also look at teaching children about their body mass index (BMI) as part of maths.”
If this idea was implemented and just 50 % of the students maintained the healthy, active lifestyle, “it would make a massive impact”, said Prof Moyna. “That is the type of surreal thinking that is required.”
The figures highlighted by the health expert are that 17% of 15- to 17-year-olds recently surveyed were classified as overweight, while 5% were clinically obese, making the Irish situation similar to that in the US.
“When we speak about obesity in Irish society, we can’t say it’s coming down the road. It is here. It has arrived on our doorstep.”
Those who are obese aged 15 to 17, are 18 times more likely to be obese as an adult, according to Professor Moyna. “Due to the complications of obesity and in particular type II diabetes, today’s children will cross clinical thresholds at a much younger age than hitherto, spending a greater part of their lives in a state of ill-health and costing the health service billions.”
WIT health promotion course leader Dr Niamh Murphy called for government intervention to stave off an obesity crisis. “The case for physical activity is incredibly strong, it [obesity] causes two million deaths worldwide.”
“The physical activity focus via obesity is a good thing to some extent, but the obesity prevention benefit is not the only one. There are benefits for the transport sector, planning and the environment, for communities and society in creating harmony and fighting crime, for workforces in increasing productivity. What is needed? High-level government commitment.”
Professor Adrian Bauman of the University of Sydney told the WIT conference that physical activity is “central” to the development of any public health policy.
“Health should no longer be viewed as the Cinderella of public health policy and needs to be repositioned and resources redistributed to highlight the importance of physical activity. Ireland could benefit greatly from a national physical activity but this requires high level political commitment, adequate funding, clearly defined objectives, support from stakeholders and integration of physical activity within other related sectors.”
Professor Helen Roche of the UCD Conway Institute, outlined that “by 2010 there will be 31 million Europeans and 339 million people worldwide who will require treatment for type II diabetes and related complications”.
