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Promoting healthy lifestyles for people in England and Wales is an important governmental responsibility. DH runs initiatives to help people quit smoking, eat better and exercise more, as well as health screening projects and training and skills programmes.
Health literacy is defined as the cognitive and social skills that determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to understand and use information in ways that promote and maintain good health. This means much more than transmitting information and developing skills to undertake basic tasks. By improving people’s access to and understanding of to health information and their capacity to use it effectively, improved health literacy is critical to empowerment.
In 2003 Hazel Blears the Public Health Minister and Ivan Lewis the Skills Minister, launched Skilled for Health, a joint DfES/DH project with a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) partner ContinYou. This was a sub-project of the DfES Adult Basic Skills Strategy Skills for Life.
This programme involves all children in Reception and Year 6 having their height and weight recorded. The exercise will take place in schools every year.
A new cross-Government strategy to increase the public's fitness and activity levels was announced in August 2006. Further opportunities for promoting physical activity across the board will be investigated and the gaps and priorities considered. By taking the 'Small Change Big Difference' approach, the Government will look at ways to support the public to make the minor changes that will make a big difference to their long-term health.
This section of the website has been designed to ensure key stakeholders and the general public are kept up to date with the Government's progress and activity on food advertising and promotion to children.
The DH is working across Government, with the food industry, and with other stakeholders to establish a coherent national plan to help people in England improve their diets.
The lottery-funded Healthy Living Centres programme targets the most disadvantaged sectors of the population. The centres-350 so far-offer a huge range of activities and services to a huge range of people, from young children to the elderly.
The Department of Health's Children and Young People's Public Health Team and Child Health, Maternity and Women's Health Branch invites full applications from research teams who want to bid to undertake evaluation of its programme of Young People's Health Demonstration Sites.
