Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 June 2017
1533. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the status of recommendation 8.4 of the national cardiovascular health policy 2010-2019; the detail of the national adult and child surveys conducted to date to establish health profiles in adults and children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28788/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraRegarding recommendation 8.4 of the cardiovascular policy, a new annual Healthy Ireland Survey commenced in 2014 to enhance data collection and monitoring capacity to track progress in achieving targets to evaluate the success of Healthy Ireland. The Survey provides an up to date picture of the nation’s health with a robust and credible baseline set of data on a range of health behaviours, including those relevant to cardiovascular heath. The Department is now in a position to report credibly on a range of issues which have a significant impact on health outcomes, as well as being able to provide reliable and current data to fulfil a number of international reporting requirements. The first Healthy Ireland Survey was published in 2015, a second in 2016 and the work on a third wave is well advanced with publication expected in October 2017.
These data are now being used to inform current and future policy direction, programme development and implementation.
The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey is a WHO (European) collaborative study. Participating countries cooperate on survey content, methodology and time, and an international protocol is developed. The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Trends Report explores the trends in the health and wellbeing of children in Ireland between 1998 and 2014. The study has been collecting data from school-aged children aged 10-17 years since 1998. The most recent data collection took place in 2014. Previous studies were undertaken in 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010.
The Trends Report describes the self-reported health status of children over time in relation to key indicators: health behaviours, health outcomes and the contexts of their lives.
