It is easier to identify problems than to deal with them, especially when personal choices and economic disadvantage are involved. Successive reports from the ESRI and Trinity College Dublin on the health of Irish children from nine months to nine years of age have found, unsurprisingly, that higher parental education and income levels represent significant advantages. Children from this cohort have fewer behavioural and emotional problems, are significantly healthier and are less likely to be overweight or obese. So far, the official response has been fragmented and with little effect.
The most obvious way of tackling this issue would be through increasing State aid for poor families and disadvantaged areas. That has not happened and the budgetary climate offers little hope in that regard. Individual lifestyles, eating habits and social expectations are important health determinants but the necessary investment in education programmes and community services to drive change has fallen short. Minister for Health James Reilly suggested a sugar tax to combat obesity some time ago. But, following pressure from the food and drinks industry, it failed to secure Cabinet approval.
The latest assessment of three-years-olds finds their health to be generally good but children from upper-income families perform better. A previous survey found that nearly half of all mothers do not breastfeed and Irish-born mothers are least likely to do so. In addition, children from low-income families have nearly double the intake of crisps, hamburgers, chips and fizzy drinks as those from professional households. Weight-related problems may be particularly severe among low-income families but they now affect a quarter of all children. Many parents who themselves are overweight fail to recognise the problem. Health professionals look on obesity as an epidemic that will impose enormous future costs. It must be comprehensively tackled. The welfare of society is at risk.