Effective health education plays a crucial role in this context. An informed patient can proactively manage their health and prevent illness, rather than only seeking medical advice after becoming unwell. This was a key takeaway from the debate titled ‘Public Health: The Role and Importance of Prevention and Health Promotion’ at the Economic Forum in Karpacz.
A significant portion of the debate focused on issues related to stimulants, particularly alcohol. Professor Andrzej Fal from the National Medical Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, who moderated the discussion, began with a presentation on behavioural health risks associated with lifestyle and nutrition.
Risk factors
Among the major risk factors related to an unhealthy diet, junk food, sugar, and salt stand out prominently. In terms of drugs, the health risks associated with smoking cigarettes are over 20% in Poland, compared to 12% in Norway and 17% across the EU. For alcohol, the risk is 6% in Poland, aligning with the EU average, while Norway reports a lower risk of 3%. These figures represent the percentage of health risks linked to each factor, rather than the percentage of individuals using the drug.
As Professor Fal noted, smoking cigarettes is the most significant behavioural health risk factor, with approximately 30% of the population in Poland identifying as smokers. When it comes to alcohol consumption, nearly 20% of Poles report complete abstinence over the past 12 months. Among those who do drink, 20% consume 80% of the alcohol in the country.
Professor Fal reported that over half of the alcohol consumed in Poland is beer, accounting for 55% of total consumption. In contrast, daily sales include 1.3 million small-format spirits, with approximately 410,000 sold in the morning. However, focusing on spirits can distract from the more significant issue of beer consumption. Each day, 9.4 million packs of beer are sold, with 31% – or 2.6 million packs – purchased in the morning. To fully understand the problem, we must consider the complete picture, he emphasised.
