Media Clipping — October 17, 2002, Canadian Press

Chronic disease costing N.S. $3 billion in health care, productivity

By Alison Auld

Chronic illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease cost Nova Scotia more than $3 billion a year in lost productivity and direct health-care spending, according to a new study.

The report, funded by Health Canada and the province, found that many of the costs were linked to people with both low income and education levels, and that many of the illnesses were preventable.

"This is clearly a huge, huge issue for every Nova Scotian," Tom Ward, deputy minister of health, said Thursday during the release of the study, the first of its kind for the province.

"It's certainly a wake-up call, especially when you consider that so much of this illness is preventable."

The study, done by the non-profit research group GPI Atlantic, found that chronic illnesses cost more than $1 billion a year in direct medical billing and about $1.8 billion in lost productivity...

"The risk factors, such as obesity and smoking, are major problems in this province - things that are preventable, things that we can fix," Ward said.

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