Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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1560. To ask the Minister for Health if his Department will consider launching a public health campaign advising of the health dangers of obesity and measures of prevention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63613/21]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The policy instrument for obesity in Ireland is “A Healthy Weight for Ireland’, the Obesity Policy and Action Plan (OPAP), which was launched in September 2016 as part of the Healthy Ireland Framework.  The OPAP covers a 10-year period up to 2025 and aims to reverse obesity trends, prevent health complications and reduce the overall burden for individuals, families, the health system, and the wider society and economy. 

Communication with the public forms an important strand of the OPAP, and Step 4 of the OPAP is to Implement a strategic and sustained communications strategy that empowers individuals, communities and service providers to become obesity aware and equipped to change, with a particular focus on families with children in the early years.   Under Healthy Ireland, the Department, safefood and the HSE run a communications campaign called START (www.safefood.net/start), which aims to inspire, empower and support parents to start building and persist with healthy lifestyle habits in the family to prevent childhood obesity.  This five-year campaign, launched in 2017, acknowledges that the solutions to tackling overweight and obesity are multiple and that every sector has a role to play.  Key messages of the campaign are to minimise the intake of foods high in fat, salt and sugar and eat more fruit and vegetables, establish water and milk as routine drinks and provide appropriate child-sized portion sizes.  Increasing physical activity and sleep time and limiting screen time are also highlighted. 

More recently in Q4 2021, action under Step 4 of the OPAP has included the Healthy Ireland Let’s Get Set campaign (www.gov.ie/letsgetset ), which empowers us all to set a healthy routine in relation to eating well, getting active and minding our mood.

The launch of a new five year adult Healthy Weight Campaign is a priority under the OPAP for 2022.  The design of the campaign is being input into by members of the Obesity Policy Implementation Oversight Group and it will include a key target audience segmentation for 25- 34 year olds, as from 35 years of age onwards, research shows that large increases in overweight and obesity can occur. Qualitative research with different demographics of people within this age cohort has been carried out and is informing the development of the campaign.

In addressing this age group, the key focus will be on how to be weight aware and maintain a healthy weight, The focus of the campaign is aimed at the whole population of 25-34 year olds, but will also include a focus on disadvantaged communities, where levels of overweight and obesity tend to be higher.  The campaign will be a supported by initiatives and programmes delivering the key messages within the healthcare system such as the Healthy Food Made Easy programme and the recently announced dedicated services of a Food and Nutrition Officer in each of the 19 areas in the Sláintecare Healthy Communities Programme. The people in these positions will work within the communities to educate families about healthy eating and help address poor nutrition.   Work on the adult Healthy Weight Campaign is now well advanced and the campaign will commence during 2022.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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1561. To ask the Minister for Health if consideration will be given to the establishment of a national radio station dedicated solely to health issues offering personal guidance, advice and assistance to persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63615/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Health and the HSE use a variety of media channels to inform and assist the public on a regular basis. This includes national and local radio ad campaigns and the participation of spokespeople and health experts to radio and television programmes. 

The Department of Health has developed many public health information campaigns, regarding policy and service updates, for radio, television and social media. These include Healthy Ireland ‘Let’s Get Set’ campaign, Sláintecare ‘Integrated Fund’ campaign, minimum unit pricing of alcohol, call-to-action on the palliative care consultation, screening and the National Screening Advisory Council campaigns and multiple Women’s Health Taskforce led initiatives.  

In line with best practice international advice and guidance provided by the WHO and the ECDC, communications has been a cornerstone of the Department of Health and wider Government’s response to COVID-19 from the outset of this pandemic.   

Safe behaviours are the bedrock of my Department and the HSE’s communications programmes. Over the last number of months, my Department and the HSE have, in close collaboration, developed numerous public health information campaigns that cover these behaviours in depth, for radio, TV, digital and print media.   

The Department communicates its messaging through the traditional medium of radio, including numerous public health information campaigns. Representatives of the NPHET are also regularly available for media interview across all major media outlets such as RTE, Newstalk and Virgin Media News, to answer questions and provide responses to any concerns posed to them by media or the general public in relation to the pandemic and Ireland’s response to it.  

In 2020, the Department of Health launched its first official podcast ‘Health of the Nation’. The channel featured health officials, healthcare workers and experts delivering clear and factual information regarding our response to the pandemic. This channel will be relaunched to cover a wide range of health topics into the future.   

Considering the large audiences that populate social media in Ireland, the Department of Health has directed followers on social media to official sources of information, such as the Government website, the COVID-19 Data Hub and the HSE’s website. The HSE also undertakes considerable social media advertising campaigns in order to promote public health information, health services and general expert advice across platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.  The Department proactively tackles misinformation online, an example of which is the SciComm Collective; a network of young science communicators backed by the Department of Health to reach wider audiences with trusted information.  

All of this work is supported by regular opinion polling carried out by Amárach. This is published weekly on my Department’s website and shows the commitment to assessing how the general public are feeling, not only about the COVID-19 measures, but on a range of issues related to the pandemic – including the media platforms they see or would like to see more public health information made available.