Lansley calls for global action on lifestyle-related illnesses

UK health secretary Andrew Lansley has issued a call for international cooperation to tackle the growing threat of lifestyle-related illnesses on a global basis.

At a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York, the Conservative minister stated that unified action is necessary to make significant progress in curbing rates of cancer, respiratory disease, diabetes and cardiovascular ailments.

Among the measures which Mr Lansley suggested are government-led efforts to tackle key causes of poor health, such as healthcare inequalities or tobacco and alcohol abuse, as well as inactivity and poor diets.

He compared this effort to previous global initiatives to combat smallpox and polio, which have succeeded in saving millions of lives in the past.

"I hope that in decades to come, our successors will look back and see that now was when the tide began to turn," the health secretary said.

Earlier this month, the Department of Health announced a new partnership with popular kids' TV show LazyTown that aims to help encourage healthy living as part of the Change4Life scheme.