Health information is based on truthfulness and public health is based on prevention and promotion. This is the basis of Pillars of healtha “roadmap that allows us to clean up the conversation about prevention and health promotion”, as defined Daniele Aparicioeditorial director of the Health Area of Unidad Editorial, an initiative that kicked off today in a first day that this area organized in collaboration with HM Hospitales, Lilly, MSD and the Department of Health of the Region of Murcia.
With constant remembrance and words of encouragement for those affected by DANA, the first swords of the public health. He opened fire Carlos Enrique Rodríguez Jiménezspecialist in Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition, with a reflection on three large pillars of health that the Unidad Editorial group will address through its main publications (Diario Médico e Correo Farmacéutico, CuídatePlus, EL MUNDO, Expansión and Marca) in the coming months: overweight and obesity, emotional and mental well-being, healthy aging, why not it’s just about turning years, but about “achieving them with quality of life”.
To do this, according to Rodríguez Jiménez, it is necessary to have “a organic lifestylebecause diet and physical exercise are the basis of the cellular scaffolding”, and these good habits translate into “anti-obesity and anti aging“. As he explained, “the obesity it is generated by excess food and a hyper-sedentary lifestyle plus stress”, factors that give rise to metabolic syndrome, which is increasingly present in our society.
In improving health, an area in which Rodríguez Jiménez is an expert is becoming increasingly important: microbiota intestinal, both because “its alteration is at the origin of multiple health problems”, and for “the intestine-brain connection”, the intestine being “a second brain”.
Health for all
And if it’s about public health, three representatives from each Ministry of Health In this area they exhibited what can be done by the administration to improve global health. “Most chronic diseases result from risk factors, such as tobacco and alcohol consumption, an unbalanced diet and a sedentary lifestyle,” he said. Elena Andradasdirector general of Public Health of the Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid, who labeled obesity as one of the great problems of the 21st century, at the origin of “metabolic syndrome, hypertension, diabetes…”.
For his part, José Jesús Guilléngeneral director of Public Health and Addictions of the Ministry of Health of the Region of Murcia, believes that “many chronic diseases derive from what we have done and learned before the age of 20”, therefore, in his opinion, “information, training and health education are essential for life; “This is the most complicated but also the most important part.”
Sergio Cobos, Jorge Del Diego Sal
And public health does not just mean “preventing disease, but promoting health”. Jorge del Diegogeneral director of Public Health and Pharmaceutical Management of the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs of the Government of Andalusia. Likewise, invite reinvent the concept of the health centerwhich “is not only the place where I go when I feel bad, but it can also be a gym, to combat sedentary lifestyle, or a day centre, which alleviates unwanted loneliness”.
The stigma of obesity
“An obese patient is given a diet from the drawer and told to do it. ‘Lose weight.’ As if it were just a matter of willpower, and the patient was guilty“he complained Arantxa Sáezpresident of the Spanish Association for Thyroid Cancer (Aecat). In his opinion, obese people carry with them a stigma that affects even the few associations, and “the only solution that the health system offers is surgery. I had surgery 20 years ago and in that time it hasn’t changed Nothing”.
And he’s right, second Christopher Moralesmember of the Spanish Society for the Study of Obesity (Seedo): “We did so badly that we can only improve“. He believes that health workers should show more empathy, approach obesity as a disease and accompany the patient in the process “not of lowering the numbers on the scale, but of improving his health.”
Health promotion is key
But it is not, in reality, a failure of the system, as the health leaders who took part saw Pillars of health: ”To improve health health services are not necessarybut schools, social services, local administrations… We have to deanitize Health. But the community level has no incentives or funding,” he said. José Augusto Garcia Navarropresident of the Spanish Society of Geriatrics, and agrees with him Clotilde Vázquezhead of the Endocrinology Department of the Jiménez Díaz Foundation (Madrid), since “the prevention of chronic diseases is not a health issue, but a transversal one. The social, political, economic, food sectors, etc. must be involved.”
With this global involvement, according to Vázquez, it would be possible to ensure that healthy lifestyle habits prevail and that we are not bombarded by the opposite.”
The problem, second Laura de Antahead of the section of the Psychiatry Unit of the Child and Adolescent Day Hospital of the Infanta Leonor University Hospital, in Madrid, is that “health workers take for granted that the general population knows what is healthybut that’s not the case.”
“A mental illness with legs”
There is considerable agreement in the healthcare community that “the pandemic has brought something positive to the field of mental health, and that is visibility of mental disorders“he stated Guillermo Laheraprofessor of Psychiatry at the University of Alcalá and section head of the Príncipe de Asturias University Hospital, in the same city of Madrid.
However, in his opinion, it also left something negative: “Mild mental disorders are omnipresent, we have opened Pandora’s box. But the focus was not on the serious mental disorderwhich remains a taboo and about which there is very little literacy.
This taboo and ignorance are reflected, second Maribel Rodriguezpresident of ES+Salud Mental, on employment: “The hiring of people with disabilities is encouraged and even promoted, but the unemployment rate among people with severe mental disorders it is 87.3%. They won’t make their job worse, but they are treated as if they were mentally ill with legs,” he complained, citing the case of a person with schizophrenia who does not want to go to the emergency room because of a problem with his COPD, because they will inform psychiatry “He was dying because he couldn’t breathe, not because he was schizophrenic.”
Making citizens responsible
Mental health, obesity and healthy ageing: the three pillars were discussed at length during the morning, and it is clear that “there is still a lot to do”, as noted Juan José PedronoMinister of Health of the Region of Murcia, who closed the day.
Juan José Pedreño, Minister of Health of the Murcia Region.
And much of the work to be done falls on the citizen: “We must convey the message that The person responsible for a person’s health is the person himself.. Health systems have the responsibility to support and accompany him, but he will be the main agent of his health.”
It will still be of great help truthful and rigorous informationfor which he thanked “the media for the very important role they play in giving the population information they can trust”.
Ing session. It was emphasized that these issues are interconnected, requiring a holistic approach to public health. Participants agreed that empowering citizens with knowledge and resources is crucial in combating obesity and promoting mental well-being.
Empowerment through education was a key theme, with speakers urging for strategies to enhance health literacy from an early age. They highlighted the role of schools in educating children about nutrition, physical activity, and the importance of mental health. This proactive education could prevent unhealthy habits from forming, thereby reducing the prevalence of obesity and mental health disorders in adulthood.
Moreover, attendees discussed the challenge of breaking the stigma associated with obesity and mental illnesses. Speakers pointed out that societal perceptions often lead to discriminatory practices that exacerbate the issues faced by individuals struggling with these conditions. Arantxa Sáez and Christopher Morales reiterated the need for health workers to foster empathy, understanding that obesity, much like mental health issues, is a complex interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors, rather than merely a matter of individual willpower.
In the dialogue around healthy aging, the importance of fostering strong community ties was highlighted. The consensus was that social isolation is a significant risk factor for both physical and mental health decline. Initiatives to transform health centers into multi-functional spaces offering not just medical care but also community engagement activities, fitness programs, and mental health resources were proposed.
Ultimately, the discussion concluded with a call to action for a collaborative effort among various sectors: health, education, social services, and government. It was stressed that reducing the burden of chronic diseases like obesity and mental health disorders requires collective responsibility—from individual lifestyle choices to systemic reforms in how health services are delivered and funded.