16 January 2009
By David Meilton
A quarter of all men and 23% of women in Northern Ireland are obese, according to a public spending watchdog.
The report from the Northern Ireland Audit Office, published on January 14, said that more than 62,000 people (around 5% of the population over the age of 20) have Type 2 diabetes. It forecast that this could rise to more than 81,000 by 2015.
More than 2,100 deaths a year are attributable to lack of physical activity, the NIAO said, while the treatment of those suffering from diabetes is believed to cost the health services across the UK around £1m every hour.
The NI Department for Health, Social Services and Public Safety has set a target aimed at halting the rise in obesity by March 2010.
But the report concluded that this needed to be expanded, for example, to take into account gender differences, children and socioeconomic groupings.
The report also noted that there were no targets to reduce the incidence of diabetes.
'The department is committed to action across primary prevention, early detection and intervention in relation to both obesity and Type 2 diabetes,' the NIAO acknowledged.
But it added: 'The full impact of its strategies on reducing the burden of Type 2 diabetes has still to be realised.'
The report called for policies to be framed so that measures of progress and outcomes could be more closely aligned.
PFjan2009
