Web: http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/health/improvement/challenge/?lang=en

Health Challenge Wales is a call to everyone - all people and organisations - to do as much as they can to improve health.

The Welsh Assembly Government’s consultation document ‘Well Being in Wales’ emphasised that the health of the nation is not just the responsibility of the Welsh Assembly Government and the NHS. Everyone has a part to play in improving health in Wales, in short: health is everybody’s business.

This idea of organisations and individuals sharing responsibility was reinforced by the 2004 ‘Review of Health and Social Care in Wales’, which showed that the demand for health and care services is unsustainable in the longer term. Therefore greater emphasis needs to be placed on preventing ill health in the first place, which will in turn free up our health service to treat unavoidable disease.

Health Challenge Wales has been developed to help contribute towards this aim. It signposts members of the public to information or activity to help them improve their own health. It also engages with organisations to look after the health of their staff and customers.