The quest for a healthy future

When we think of the term health we tend to bring to mind images of hospital beds, medical equipment, doctors' reports and operation theatres. In the case of many of us, this makes us feel queasy and fills us with endless thoughts about medical conditions and makes us worry about ourselves and our loved ones. We try to avoid the ultimate fate of an unhealthy lifestyle by considering a change in the way we lead our own lives, our eating habits and our exercise patterns. But this should not be a kind of stop start or reactive measure; we need to take a wider and more proactive view of our healthy living and this includes the way we all think, our consumer habits and our lifestyle.

Our health does have serious repercussions on the national economy. So how can we cut down on expenses related to sickness, enjoy a healthier quality of life and ensure a better economic situation in these islands? The answer can be explained under three distinct topics.

First, consumer behaviour.

Our lifestyles today are affected by the way we shop, the products we choose and the services we look for and, inversely, these same factors are affected by our own purchasing habits and trends. This is nothing new; in any free market economy we have clear choices to make and we can be overwhelmed by too much variety and too much choice!

So we need to be educated, we need to learn how to purchase sustainably, how to choose those products that are environmentally-friendly, those which do not have a negative impact on our health and ensuring that what we purchase can be recycled efficiently and effectively.

Consumer behaviour is not only about values and costs but also includes the responsibility we should all have to create a healthy market economy that is both sustainable and acceptable to all stakeholders, that is: The authorities, the business community and the consumer.

Second, civic responsibility and awareness.

We should all have the responsibility to maintain an acceptable quality of life for our island state and our world. The promotion of this responsibility is often termed as being of a civic nature and awareness. It normally varies from our behaviour as consumers to our behaviour in our waste management attitude.

Civic responsibility is not something that can be enforced simply by a voluntary code of ethics, but needs to be backed up by legal initiatives that are binding and serious. The government's decision to close the Magħtab landfill last year brought about a new culture in waste disposal and the continuous learning programmes that changed the way we considered our attitude towards the "throw-away society" of the 1980s and 1990s.

But our civic responsibility also needs to be enhanced when we consider the way we use national health services. It is very appropriate here to quote that age-old saying "Prevention is better than cure" because it certainly does make sense both for us as individuals and for all of us as a nation. We need to take care of our health; we need to reduce any work-related accidents and by being attentive we can also avoid unnecessary accidents on the road or in the home. We have seen the devastating impact of these incidents on both our society and on our productivity levels.

Third, public service delivery.

The streamlining of the public service over the past years under a Nationalist government has meant that we have come to better trust this organisation, we can rely on it more and we can feel more comfortable in approaching it with our queries. The initiative to appoint personnel as green leaders within the public sector is a clear indication of commitment towards a healthy environment. Like any other organisation, it is not perfect and it will require constant monitoring and change management to ensure that the needs of society are adequately and effectively met.

What I have mentioned above can be seen as some critical factors that require attention if we are to ensure that the future is a healthy one, both for us as individuals and for our country.

The European Union is based on two main principles: the principle of subsidiarity and the principle of democratic systems. This means that we need to implement both principles in all that we do if we want to ensure a healthy economy, social structure and environment. Trying to ensure sustainable development as an isolated nation today does not always leave the desired result, but together we can make things happen, with the ultimate aim of having a stronger citizen in Europe.

Mr Cini is a Nationalist candidate for the MEP elections.

rudolphc@onvol.net