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Danes smoking and drinking less

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March 5th, 2014


This article is more than 10 years old.

Danes are cutting back on fags and booze, but young people are not following the programme

Danes are cutting back on their drinking and smoking habits.

According to Sundhedsstyrelsens Nationale Sundhedsprofil, the health department’s national health profile, the number of Danes who identified themselves as daily smokers has dropped from nearly 21 percent in 2010 to 17 percent.

And only one in five men and one in seven women reported drinking more than the maximum of 14 units per week. In 2010, one out of four said they downed more than the maximum.

Deadly vices
Health department spokesperson Jette Jul Bruun was pleased with the numbers.

“Smoking kills 13,000 to 14,000 people each year, and smoking kills another 3,000, so these are important numbers as they relate to public health,” Bruun told DR Nyheder.

Young people are still drinking above the health department’s recommendations, but the numbers of young men drinking too much have fallen since 2010.

READ MORE: Raise the price of cigarettes, urge experts

The report said that Danes still have problems in the areas of diet, exercise and obesity, and that those problems are larger among the poorer and less educated segments of society.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”