New collaboration to tackle Scotland’s poor health record
8 August 2008
A new initiative which aims to come up with fresh strategies to tackle Scotland’s poor health record has been launched in Edinburgh.
The Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy has been formed in response to the need to bring together the best minds in public health to tackle alcohol abuse and violence, and the looming epidemic of obesity complications, the biggest health problems Scotland faces now and in the future. Funding will be provided by the Medical Research Council and the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates, and the collaboration has a budget of £3.5 million for the first five years.
People living in Scotland have poorer health than populations in other industrialised countries and health inequalities are growing. The Collaboration’s initial challenge is to identify opportunities for public health intervention research, then to devise and test innovative ideas to enable public health policy and programmes to be developed that are designed specifically for the Scottish population.
A particular area of concern for the Collaboration is the looming epidemic of chronic diseases caused by heavy drinking, unhealthy nutrition and lack of physical activity. For example, a third of all children in Scotland are overweight and so can be expected to have type 2 diabetes by the time they reach retirement age. Professor John Frank, the scientist recruited to head the Collaboration, explained:
“You can’t tackle the impending obesity pandemic simply by classifying a third of the child population as patients. The solution is to change the culture. Unfortunately, we can’t simply go to the bookshelf and find a recipe that might work for Scotland. We need to come up with home grown and home tested solutions.”
Professor Frank has been recruited from Canada, and has a strong background in public health research and in managing teamwork between public health researchers and public policy decision-makers.
He continued: “Many public health problems are biologically reversible, and that’s the best reason I can think of for getting involved. I believe that the Collaboration will soon be ready to work with researchers and policy-makers across the country, to bring the best minds available to the problem, and that’s got to be a good thing.”
Professor Sir John Savill, the new Chief Scientist at the Scottish Government Health Directorate and Head of College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, welcomed the appointment, saying:
“The Scottish public health and clinical research communities are very excited by the arrival of John Frank who is a distinguished research scientist in this important and challenging area. We are convinced that Professor Frank’s expertise and leadership will ensure that Scotland makes vital contributions that are relevant to Scotland, the UK and further afield.”
Professor Frank will hold a chair in public health at the University of Edinburgh, and will be based at the Medical Research Council’s Human Genetics Unit in the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine. The Collaboration will work with the Scottish Government to match its priorities, complementing the work of Health Scotland which already commissions research into specific areas of health, and will also work with the NHS, HEIs and other relevant bodies.
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press.office@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk
