Editorial
Minister for Health Dr James Reilly and Government colleagues Ministers Frances Fitzgerald, Róisín Shortall and Kathleen Lynch, ‘Your Health is Your Wealth’ is the title of the new show in town. The previews, according to the critics, seem quite promising. The new policy, once published, will set out the Government’s long-term vision for the health and well-being of the population, with the aim of helping people live healthier and more fulfilling lives and creating social conditions that ensure good health, on equal terms, for the entire population.

The programme notes have all the details on the main players, and quite a shocking prologue: two thirds of chronic disease could be prevented by changing our lifestyle and avoiding unnecessary risk factors; 70 per cent of preventable deaths are caused by smoking and obesity; 2,000 beds in every hospital every night and three out of 10 emergency department (ED) attendances are due to alcohol; one in four deaths in young men aged 15 to 34 is linked to alcohol consumption (compared to one in 12 due to cancers); and one in every two smokers will die of a tobacco-related disease.