Vol. 539 No. 3
7 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Health and Children if his Department has made a contribution to the healthy cities project, particularly on the north side of Dublin, in view of recent statistics for acute illness in the region; and if agencies under the aegis of his Department intend to research and compile the type of definitive spatial maps of multiple disadvantage which are so useful to policy makers in many of our EU partner states. [15286/01]
For the past number of years the health promotion unit of my Department has contributed towards the funding of Dublin healthy cities project and will continue to do so in the future. The relevant local authorities and the health boards also fund the Dublin healthy cities project. The project was an initiative of the World Health Organisation's European office and was established in 1989. Its aims are to promote a co-ordinated approach to improving the physical, social and mental well-being of city dwellers by a partnership of local government, statutory and voluntary sectors with active involvement of citizens in decisions affecting their health.
I am not aware of any recently published statistics relating to a prevalence of acute illness on the north side of the city. In line with the commitments of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, the Deputy will be aware that the national anti-poverty strategy and the health working group was set up in 2000 to identify potential health targets relating to inequalities and social exclusion, and associated outcomes. The health working group is scheduled to submit a report of its findings to my Department within a month. This report will be of benefit to both policy makers and service providers in the identification and development of services appropriate to the needs of communities at both local and regional level. It will be a valuable tool in assisting ongoing research and providing a firm basis for future research.
Following on from this process, a steering committee, to be set up by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, will examine all working group reports and identify gaps or cross-cutting issues. A national seminar will then take place allowing for an open discussion on the steering committee's report, and a proposal will be put to Government.
I thank the Minister for his reply. I do not want to delay on this point except to say that my understanding is that some work has been done in terms of assessing, on an area basis in the north side of Dublin, the extent of illness and early levels of mortality under the healthy cities project. Apart from the work that has been done in terms of the strategy, does the Minister believe it is important now to assess and research fully the impact of poverty on health? Having done the comparative study, North and South, where the information indicates that up to 6,000 people would not die if there were special targeted measures to address their needs as a result of the impact of poverty on their health, rather than waiting on the anti-poverty strategy to report, or indeed his own health strategy, does the Minister agree there should be an ongoing, regional plan based on research?
To be fair to the chief medical officer, in his 1999 report which was published in 2000, he concentrated heavily on the issue of inequalities in health and the impact of socio-economic conditions on the health status of people. The most recent research commissioned by the Institute of Public Health draws significant conclusions on socio-economic status and health. That will continue to be a significant focus of our activities in terms of the allocation of resources. That is one of the reasons we concentrated much of our public investment in public hospitals. It is also the reason we agreed, in the national development plan, to split the funding and provide £1 billion for community infrastructure and £1 billion for hospital infrastructure. One of the issues affecting areas of socio-economic deprivation is the lack of sufficient infrastructure on the ground in terms of community and day centre facilities and multi-disciplinary clinics where people can avail of services. The emphasis must switch to areas like that. The partnership areas, drug task forces, etc. have been significant, but their emphasis to date has been on economic-education issues. The health dimension never featured to the same degree as those other issues.
