The government campaign “Healthy Life”, co-organized by the Ministry of Health, has started. The head of the ministry, Adam Niedzielski, was present at the program inauguration. He found a moment to talk to Medonet. He boasted, among others an important change in his life after his weight exceeded 100 kg.
- The government program “Healthy Life”, which was launched on June 3, aims to promote a healthy lifestyle among Poles and awareness of preventive examinations
- President Andrzej Duda, who inaugurated the campaign, shared an important change in his life related to the change of lifestyle, i.e. quitting smoking five years ago
- The Minister of Health also has success in this matter. – After exceeding the “40” mark, I started running because my weight was over 100 kg. As a result, my blood parameters returned to normal – said Adam Niedzielski in an interview with Medonet
- The basic problem of Poles is the low level of health awareness and the low level of participation in screening tests – added the minister
- More current information can be found on the Onet homepage.
The National Health Test of Poles 2022 conducted by Medonet shows that many of us do not want to be tested. And the main reason is that they don’t feel sick. How to convince them to change in this regard?
Adam Niedzielski: I believe that this is a fundamental problem when it comes to public health in Poland. Very often, the discussion is reduced to the question of whether there is adequate equipment in hospitals, whether the infrastructure is adequate, whether we have a sufficient number of staff. In fact, the underlying problem is low health awareness and low participation in screening. Here, on the one hand, education can be thought of, but it is conducted. Soon, together with Minister Czarnek, we will be launching a project of learning about the principles of healthy living and prevention in grades I-III. But such education will have an effect when this generation is grown up.
That is why we need actions such as today’s one, that is “Healthy Life”. We also have to start thinking about the fact that certain obligations of prevention should be duties. It should be verified whether such duties are performed as part of occupational medicine or in terms of access to public services.
Will we be able to get a referral to a specialist in such a zone as part of “Healthy Life”?
The scope is very wide. We have here ultrasound, mammography, the availability of a dietitian, the possibility of using other advice. I am not sure if there will also be a family medicine doctor. So maybe there will be no direct referral, but certainly an indication and advice on which way to go.
What will be the success of such an action? How many people does it have to take to be successful?
For now, we have defined nine cities in which this town is to appear, but for me the indirect success of this action will be the level of participation in the “Prevention 40 plus” program, which is currently a priority for the Ministry of Health. At the moment, we have about a million completed surveys and 400. research. The indicator of success will be at least 3 million questionnaires and 2 million tests performed. So it’s gonna be a huge job.
If, in addition to the tools that you have as a minister and politician, you also had a magic wand, in which disease would you like Poles to start studying more thoroughly?
It is primarily about cardiovascular diseases. They are still the main killer in Poland. And this simple awareness of measuring pressure should be enough to react when the problem is not yet so great that it leads to great complications.
Don’t wait for the disease to develop. Remember about regular screening tests. You will find a basic preventive check-ups at Medonet Market.
The president shared his personal testimony that he had quit smoking. Do you also have any testimony that may be an example of how to stay healthy?
After crossing the “40” level, I started running, because my weight exceeded 100 kg. And I even got to the point where I ran a marathon a few years ago. But it was perhaps the only time in my life. Now I try to run 5km regularly several times a week. I encourage everyone to exercise, because in my case it stabilized blood parameters at good levels, which were exceeded with this obesity.
Krzysztof Nakonieczny interviewed.
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