Then and now: A revision of the city health profile of the city of Pecs, Hungary

Abstract

The City of Pecs, a founding member, has participated in the World Health Organization European Healthy Cities Network (WHO-EHCN) since 1986. Each WHO-EHCN city prepares a city health profile (CHP) through which it supports local health-related activities. The first CHP of Pecs was carried out in 1996. The aim of more recent research has been to implement a comprehensive review of the first CHP and to make a comparative analysis between the results of the former and the updated CHPs. The data were received from different databases and a telephone survey. The review showed improvement in those areas that can be influenced through the measures of the city authorities. The survey showed that both the ratio of smokers and the amount of cigarettes smoked had decreased so that the ratio of regular smokers became the lowest among the youngest age group. The number of alcohol consumers increased, while the amount of alcohol consumed dropped slightly, meaning that alcohol consumption per capita decreased overall. The comparative analysis highlighted unhealthy diets, insufficient sleep duration and physical inactivity becoming significant health risk factors. To avoid a 'reinventing the wheel' situation, it would be worth comparing the results of health and lifestyle surveys of other WHO-EHCN cities and eventually jointly devise the best solutions.