Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson

Heilsuefling á vinnustöðum

18. sept. 2008 kl. 8.30

Háskólanum í Reykjavík, Ofanleiti 2.

Distinguished guests, ágætu áheyrendur.

It is with great pleasure that I am here today when you are taking the pulse on, and emphasizing health promotion in the work place. The topic, Healthy together, that you will be focusing on today, is of great interest to me and I would have liked to be able to be present in the sharing of information and experiences that I know will take place here.

I believe it is save to state that we enjoy a good health status here in Iceland. We live long, infant mortality is the lowest in the world, we work hard and according to some happiness measurements we are also very happy. I don’t know how reliable that is however.

So is there a reason for us to be concerned?

Actually I think there is. Even if we do enjoy a status of health that most nations find enviable there are some indicators that we need to acknowledge. Our health care expenditure is growing steadily and if we don’t intervene, we will se a number as high as 15% of GDP in the year 2050 according to the OECD. This is of course not acceptable.

Today, the largest share of our health care cost is related to chronic disorders. Some of these disorders can be prevented while others can often be influenced for the better with healthy living.

Three days ago BBC World broadcasted news about results of a pilot project where healthy diet, moderate exercise and rest with meditation, seemed to enhance the production of enzymes that counteract cancer cells. This is only a pilot study but all the same, it supports what we already know, that it is of the utmost importance that we promote healthy living.

In some respect we are on the right track. Nutritional value of food has improved, we eat more vegetables and fruit, smoking has declined, less than 20 % of Icelanders smoke, and substance use is declining.

But there is another side to this as well.

The Icelandic nation holds a world record in consumption of sugar per capita, obesity is increasing, especially among children, and increase in comorbidity will follow. Number of people with disabilities has gone up and most of the people receiving disability pension does so because of psychological or muscular-skeletal problems. The severity of these disordes can be influenced by the way we live and conduct our behavior.

Having realized this, as Minister of Health, I have made it my priority to do what is in my power to promote healthy living here in Iceland.

In October 2007 we started to shape a national public health policy, the nation’s first comprehensive, and causal based public health policy. The work is directed by the Ministry of Health in co-operation with the Public Health Institute and the Directorate of Health. 

In the policy analysis phase of the development of the Public Health Policy in Iceland, we looked at policies on health promotion and public health in general in our neighboring countries.

During this work, our main focus has been on health promotion, rather than development of the health service system. We have approached the work on our Policy and Action Plan as a cooperation program that provides a broad framework for health promotion in various components areas of society. It reaches across different sectors of administration, since public health is largely determined by factors outside health care: lifestyles, living environment, quality of products, factors promoting and factors endangering community health.

An extract from the Policy as well as an Action Plan for the year of 2009 will be presented now in October. The main chapters in the Action Plan are Nutrition, Physical Activity, Mental Health Promotion and General Health Promotive Actions as well as Prevention against Certain Types of Cancer.

Every action in the Action Plan is based on the objectives and goals of the Policy Paper and is connected to measurable benchmarks.

This new national Public Health Policy is planned as a template for both the actors directly under the government realm as well as a guiding document for municipalities and actors within the civil society and the market.

A horizontal approach was applied in the development of the Policy and the Action Plan where top-down and bottom-up approaches have been mixed. In order to establish a broad ownership of the Action Plan a number of meetings were organized with professionals, academics, civil society and other stakeholders. We also opened a channel into the Ministry where people could send their thoughts on the subject. In short, we aimed to cover all the angles, - because we realise that this has to be a joint effort that reaches into all corners of society. We are dealing with behaviour and it is hard to change old habits.

Due to the fact that most of our adult population spends the majority of their waking time at work, workplaces are crucial when it comes to health promotion for adults. Workplace health promotion is collaboration between employers, employees and the whole society to improve the health and well being of people at work. The direct benefits from health promotion in the workplace are reduction in sickness related costs and an increase in productivity. It is a win-win action which will be beneficial to all participants as we will hear more of from the specialists talking here today.

It is assumed that work-related stress reduces GDP in Europe around 5-10%[1]. In Iceland, studies has shown that 27% of the workforce consider themselves experiencing too much stress at work and 42% report that they have too much to do at work[2].

The project “Healthy Together”, which we will hear more about later today, is a good example of great collaboration between specialists in the field of workplace health promotion from Iceland, Ireland and Italy. The aim of the project is also in harmony with our national health policy. The development and execution of e-learning courses for trainers and professionals in rural communities where they learn the skills needed to promote workplace health and safety in their own communities is a very interesting approach. The horizontal approach, which I mentioned earlier, has been emphasized and the students have been trained in using local resources and services to plan and initiate workplace health promotion programs, coordinate risk assessments, and provide consultation to employees in the following subject areas: nutrition, exercise and mental health promotion.

Climbing the highest peak of Iceland, Hvannadalshnjúk, has become ever more popular among Icelanders. Hundreds, even a couple of thousands, climb all the 2000 meters every year – in one day. Many people come together in groups that are organised in their workplaces. Climbing Hvannadalshnjúkur requires preparation; you don’t just jump from your chair all the way up. This means that people exercise for several months, walking, running and climbing. This is in my opinion a fine example of how a common goal is set in the work place, a goal that requires commitment. And I believe that many of those that start this way, continue to climb other mountains or enjoy some other outdoor activities which we have an excellent opportunity to do here in Iceland. I realize that to climb the highest mountain is certainly not a goal that fits all. It is important that each person sets goals that fit his or her state and the goals must of course be revised regularly in accordance with health, age and personal situations.

Finally, I will say this: The time for health promotion is now! We have done a very good job in acute care here in Iceland but we can do better yet in prevention and health promotion in our society. Workplace health promotion is especially important se there is likely to be a positive spill-over effect to the children at home.

The importance of workplace health promotion for employees, employers and the society as a whole is unquestionable. That is why we state in our Action Plan that all institutes of the Ministry of Health will have become health promoting workplaces by the end of year 2009.

Our goal is to create an environment here in Iceland, that enables people to live healthy lives and make healthy choices.

Takk.

(Talað orð gildir)