The New Fat Scotland 'Thanks for all the Fish' Thread.

zagubov

CLAPTON wrote: »

It will be an interesting experiment to see if a box of stuff will reduce the number of cot deaths (or is it infant mortality?)

There was a claim once that 98% of cot deaths occurred in a household where someone smoked. That suggests a way of improving survival.

Shakethedisease

Is the Daily Record on the turn ? They're claiming the credit for this.

The SNP’s Holyrood manifesto, which will be launched on Wednesday, will contain five central pledges to transform benefits for the disabled. They say they will:

●Reform assessment procedures to end the stress caused to those with long-term illnesses, disabilities or conditions.
●Introduce long-term awards for existing long-term conditions that are unlikely to change.
●Set clear timescales for conducting assessments and making decisions in respect of the benefits being devolved.
●Create a transparent and accessible appeals process – with guaranteed timescales for
decisions – with a guarantee claimants can access information on how to appeal.
●Ensure disability benefits will not be means tested.

Sturgeon said: “The Tory Government’s treatment of disabled people over the last few years has been disgusting.
The move comes after three years of campaigning by the Daily Record to end the humiliating disability benefit testing regime.

Read more at http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeons-snp-manifesto-use-7778076#9kxmV2T0gxZ84uUi.99

Wednesday for the manifesto. Be interesting to see how Scottish Labour respond given that they're only releasing theirs an unprecedented, and a mere 8 days before the vote.

Generali

zagubov wrote: »

There was a claim once that 98% of cot deaths occurred in a household where someone smoked. That suggests a way of improving survival.

Scotland's adult smoking rate is about 22%, Finland's is about 17%.

The Scottish Government could improve the health of far more Scots by aiming at reducing poor lifestyle choices such as smoking, poor diet and drinking to excess. This would be particularly beneficial to poor parts of Scotland which have some terrible health outcomes.

If most cot deaths are caused by smoking now, cutting the smoking rate by a third would account for almost all of the difference between Scottish and Finnish cot deaths/SIDS.

A box is a gimmick. Presumably lots of parent's will end up being given things they already have from baby #1 for baby #2 or would be perfectly able to provide these things for themselves.

elantan

They do have smoking cessation stuff up here ... the nurses work very hard at it and have made huge inroads to dealing with the issue

chewmylegoff

Shakethedisease wrote: »

The Finnish cot death rate is 0.2%, in Scotland/UK ? it's 0.37 %. A lot of the things in the baby boxes are already handed out free via midwives, docs and health visitors. Makes sense to hand them out at birth. Is a good 'gimmick'. Other countries/regions are trialing the same.

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/finlands-famous-baby-boxes-are-coming-to-canada-first-stop-alberta

The Finnish cot death rate is not 0.2% that is the infant mortality rate. It is the same in Norway and Sweden where presumably they don't have Finnish Baby Boxes. It seems more likely that the difference in infant mortality rate is not related to the provision of a box of stuff but more likely to be the result of a better overall healthcare system. The fact that life expectancy and cancer survival rates in Finland are also better seems to suggest as much.

zagubov

chewmylegoff wrote: »

The Finnish cot death rate is not 0.2% that is the infant mortality rate. It is the same in Norway and Sweden where presumably they don't have Finnish Baby Boxes. It seems more likely that the difference in infant mortality rate is not related to the provision of a box of stuff but more likely to be the result of a better overall healthcare system. The fact that life expectancy and cancer survival rates in Finland are also better seems to suggest as much.

The Finns were notoriously the sick men of Europe back in the day. They managed to cut down their appalling CVD death rate through public health programmes and I believe a public health education campaign.

Whether or not they now share the same catastrophic cancer/suicide/alcohol-related disease stats as other Scandinavian countries I don't know. Northern Europe in general has a lot on its plate healthwise (no pun intended).:(

Generali

zagubov wrote: »

The Finns were notoriously the sick men of Europe back in the day. They managed to cut down their appalling CVD death rate through public health programmes and I believe a public health education campaign.

Whether or not they now share the same catastrophic cancer/suicide/alcohol-related disease stats as other Scandinavian countries I don't know. Northern Europe in general has a lot on its plate healthwise (no pun intended).:(

Suicide rates still look very poor but I do find international comparisons hard to believe. Greek male suicide rates 1/80th of Finland's despite the huge differences in health outcomes for more easily measured things....really?

My guess is that the problem in Finland is as much to do with reporting as actual suicide events.

zagubov

Generali wrote: »

Suicide rates still look very poor but I do find international comparisons hard to believe. Greek male suicide rates 1/80th of Finland's despite the huge differences in health outcomes for more easily measured things....really?

My guess is that the problem in Finland is as much to do with reporting as actual suicide events.

I seem to recall that Aus also used to have a severe suicide problem some time ago. It's got a peculiarly uneven global distribution.

wotsthat

The baby box is a political stunt being played by people with more money than sense. These boxes are already supplied free of charge by a number of companies - they'll be delighted the SNP are offering to support their marketing budgets.

There have been dramatic reductions in infant and maternal mortality. I was told by a former midwife that 40 years ago a maternal death would a regular occurrence but now it's unlikely for a midwife to see one in a career.

That's down to improved healthcare. However, there's only so much that improved healthcare can deliver due to diminishing returns. The next steps downwards in infant mortality is probably related to the health of the mother. If a mother is fat, unfit, a drinker, a smoker etc then the outcomes for the child are quite clearly poorer.

Government would be better off suggesting health outcomes for children in a modern economy would be improved by the actions of the parents. Of course, giving people stuff is more likely to win votes compared to telling them that their bad habits lead to undesirable outcomes.

zagubov

Of course it's a stunt. Not a harmful one, and more importantly for the SG, not an easy one for the media to bash, which has always been their first instinct when the SNP announce any initiative.