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Why transport and health?
AT FIRST GLANCE IT MIGHT SEEM ODD TO CONNECT TWO TRADITIONALLY 'SEPARATE' POLICY AREAS. HOWEVER, THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION ( WHO) HAS HIGHLIGHTED THE LINK BETWEEN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND THE PREVENTION OF SOME ILLNESSES
According to WHO recommendations, the promotion of walking and cycling as part of a daily routine should play a key part in an overall strategy to increase levels of physical exercise and help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and some forms of cancer.
The contribution that transport policymakers can play towards health improvement through promoting increased active travel is not well defined or uniformly applied as yet. However, it's recognised as having a crucial role to play in improving the Nation's health and increasing physical exercise is now a target of the Scottish Executive.
The Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, Harry Burns, recommends accumulating 30 minutes of activity per day.
However, for many people 45-60 minutes of moderate activity a day is required to prevent such diseases as obesity. And, for young people one hour of moderate intensity physical activity a day is recommended. 2
Let's put this in context…
- Car ownership and congestion is on the rise across Scotland. If left unchecked, traffic levels are forecast to grow by almost 30% over twenty years. 3
- In Scotland, the car is used for almost two-thirds of all journeys to work between 1 km and 2 km. Even for journeys less than 1 km, over one-third are made by car. 4
- The estimated cost of physical inactivity in England is £8.2 billion annually. This doesn't include the contribution of obesity, which in itself costs an estimated £2.5 billion each year. 5
- The situation in Scotland is arguably worse - figures show that one in five children in Scotland aged 12 is clinically obese. 6
The benefits to Scotland of reducing the level of inactive Scots are huge. A 1% reduction each year for the next five years, 7 would mean:
- Cost savings of around £3.5m to the NHS through a reduction in annual admissions.
- A reduction of 157 deaths from coronary heart disease, stroke and colon cancer that are related to inactive lifestyles.
- 2,839 life years saved from reducing these overall deaths, resulting in an estimated total economic benefit of £85.2m.
JUST THINK WHAT A 10% REDUCTION IN THE NUMBER OF INACTIVE SCOTS WOULD MAKE!
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