Phil Hogan
Ceist:80 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Health when he expects the report on the Kilkenny health project; if he intends to expand this project to other areas of preventive medicine study; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Kilkenny Health Project.
The main aim of the Kilkenny health project, a pilot health promotion research and demonstration project initiated in 1985, is to reduce the risk of heart disease among the population of Kilkenny. The evaluation of the project is currently under way in terms of its success in achieving its objectives and I expect the report on this evaluation to be submitted to me by the end of this year.
I accept that greater emphasis needs to be placed nationally on the reduction of risk factors for coronary heart disease and stroke, particularly given this country's high incidence of such risk factors. This requires effective planning and broad agreement on implementation strategies.
In that context my Department's health promotion unit are preparing a draft national strategy for health promotion which will set out an agenda for improving health status here and will address the various lifestyle risk factors. The reduction of risk factors associated with heart disease and certain cancers will be core elements in the strategy document.
Given the position of the Kilkenny health project as the major community-based demonstration project in the country and the parallel development of this national plan, it was decided that there should be an effective linkage between these two initiatives. In that regard my Department are funding a research project which is currently being conducted by the Health Policy Research Centre at the ESRI which concerns the potential of a communty-based lifestyle programme such as the Kilkenny health project model, for positively influencing lifestyles on a national basis and the implications of organising any such programme on a national basis within the existing care delivery structures.