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Public Health (England)

I must make progress. The Department of Health likes to cite 150 lives saved from coronary heart disease since 1996, but in November it was forced to admit that between 1978 and 1996 the equivalent figure was more than 500,000. Spurious claims from Ministers are simply not on. No wonder two thirds of doctors now trust the Opposition more than they trust the Government. We know that over the past 10 years obesity, sexually transmitted disease, alcohol-related disease, teenage pregnancy, antique infections such as tuberculosis and syphilis, hepatitis and the consequences of drug abuse have become markedly worse in England, but how do we compare with our European neighbours? When we turn to the World Health Organisation for the information, we find that Britons are the fattest Europeans. Our children are getting fatter faster than children anywhere else in Europe, and the Office for National Statistics notes that they are becoming less active.