ABSTRACT
In July 1992, the government introduced the Health of the Nation programme, which sets targets for improvements in five key areas of health: coronary heart disease and stroke, cancer, mental illness, HIV/ Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and accidents. The impact of health care delivery, health service structure and administration and the potential for public education to improve the nation's health have purposely been avoided in order to impose some manageability on a vast subject. From the viewpoint of the human spirit, health transcends wealth in the same way that a living flower transcends the letters f-l-o-w-e-r and, in the end, ill-health and suffering can never adequately be represented by financial calculations. The buzzword is 'intersectoral' thinking, whereby employment, housing, industry, transport and welfare policies are developed with public health in mind. Health promotion tasks mean that doctors and nurses are to weigh, measure and record lifestyle habits such as smoking, drinking, diet and exercise.
