A report from Foresight, the Government’s science think-tank, predicts just 10 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women will be the right weight for their height by the year 2050. Overall, 90 per cent of Britons will be overweight and half of all Britons will be obese, predicts the report. Going by current trends 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and 25 per cent of children will be obese bringing an explosion of chronic disease conditions including type 2 diabetes, strokes and heart attacks.

GPs are to take a harder line in counseling patients who are heavy drinkers. Doctors leaders in Wales have put forward proposals to break the growing cycle of heavy drinking.

PCTs in Doncaster and Hull are sharpening their focus on sexually transmitted diseases and in particular Chlamydia. Doncaster PCT is working with the Terrance Higgins Trust and has just launched a Chlamydia screening service for people aged 25 and under. Further clinics are being planned in upcoming months for Barnsley, Rotherham and Bassetlaw.

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New data presented in June at the annual congress of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) in Barcelona show that patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with HUMIRA® (adalimumab) in combination with methotrexate (MTX) stayed in work longer, had fewer absences and reported greater improvements in work performance.

In June Abbott launched HUMIRA® (adalimumab) as a treatment for severe, active Crohn’s disease. Adalimumab is the first fully-human tumour necrosis factor antagonist (anti-TNF) to receive a licence for Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract that impairs the lives of up to 60,000 people in the UK1 and causes 70-80 per cent of patients to require major surgery within their lifetime.2

By Dr Chris Parker, The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in UK males, with more than 30,000 new cases diagnosed each year. At present, many men with prostate cancer undergo treatment which may be unnecessary. We know that as many as 80 per cent of men develop prostate cancer during their lifetime, but in most cases it does not cause any ill health. On the other hand, some prostate cancers will grow and spread, and become life threatening.

By Peter Baker, Chief Executive, Men's Health Forum

For almost 60 years, since the founding of the National Health Service, health policies and services at all levels have made little distinction between men and women's health. It has been assumed that men and women's health can, some sex-specific issues aside, be lumped together. The result has been that men's health has been one of the forgotten areas of healthcare in the UK.

By Cathy Hughes, RN MSc Clinical Nurse Specialist in Gynaecological Oncology, Royal Marsden Hospital and Chair of the Gynaecological Nursing Forum at the RCN

By Karol Sikora

New organisations with very different philosophies are needed to drive optimal cancer care and give cancer patients real choice. These new organisations can work together with existing NHS services to bring the capital to install new technology to deliver high quality services far closer to patients' homes.