A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Feeling good 'better than looking good'
ALMOST NINE out of 10 Irish people think it's more important to feel good than look good, according to a health and lifestyle survey. The survey, carried out for Kellogg's, also found 36 per cent of men and 8 per cent of women claimed they didn't need to adopt a regime to look good. Dr Mark Hamilton (above, with Sheana Keane) said: "We all know that obesity is a ticking time bomb, if we continue to put our heads in the sand and do not tackle this problem then we may be paying for it for generations to come."
Study lifts the covers on American sexual activity
ALMOST 60 years after US academic Alfred Kinsey lifted the covers on American sex lives, a new study attempts to do the same for the present generation.
The research published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine questioned 5,865 Americans, ranging in age from 14 to 94, about their sexual habits.
The findings reveal that the older generation have a lot to learn from younger participants in terms of responsible sexual behaviour, specifically in the area of contraception. The 14-17 year old age group in particular had a high rate of condom usage, almost 79 per cent, whereas men in the over-50 age group had a far lower usage rate. As people get older, the study showed that condom use declined.
One of the survey’s authors, Dr Dennis Fortenberry, said: “There’s been a major shift among young people in the role condoms have in their sexual lives. Condoms have become normative.”
The survey found that about 20 per cent of adolescents aged 14-17 engaged in sexual activity, with 14 per cent of teenage boys reporting sexual activity with a partner in the past three months. As they moved through adolescence, this statistic increased dramatically, with 40 per cent of 17 year olds admitting sexual activity with a partner.
Those surveyed reported engaging in 41 different sexual practices, from vaginal intercourse to oral sex.
Almost 85 per cent of men surveyed claimed their partner had an orgasm during sexual intercourse, yet this did not tally with female experience. Of those surveyed, 64 per cent of women reported orgasm.
HSE West has most corporate staff of regions
NEW FIGURES from the Health Service Executive show that the HSE West employs a higher proportion of corporate staff than any other HSE area.
Senior management at HSE West are engaged in imposing cuts of almost €50 million in the area stretching from Co Donegal to Co Limerick by year-end.
However, figures provided by the HSE West executive to Galway-based Cllr Michael Mullins (FG) show there are 813 (whole-time equivalent) corporate staff in the HSE West, representing 3.03 per cent of total staffing of 26,795.
This compares with 473 corporate WTE staff representing 1.44 per cent in Dublin Mid Leinster; 322 in Dublin North East (1.34 per cent) and 714 in HSE South (2.88 per cent).
A HSE statement said it should be noted that the West area “is made of three former health boards” (North West, West and Mid West). It also said that “corporate functions across the areas are not similar”.
Chairman of the HSE West forum, Cllr Padraig Conneely (FG), said yesterday: “Management are telling us there has to be a reconfiguration of the health system affecting front-line services, but these figures show there has been no reconfiguration of management in HSE West.
“Reconfiguration of the health system must start at the top, but the jobs at the top appear to be insulated from any change.” Assistant general secretary with Impact, Andy Pike, said: “We do not accept that HSE West employs a higher proportion of corporate staff as the way in which the HSE categorise the staff they employ differs across regions.”
