Health education doesn't work

Sometimes there are clusters of news items on separate but related topics. Here's an example from Stuff's health stories.

• Smoking still major cause of heart disease
• Fewer than half of sexually active teens use condoms
• 'Slip, slop, slap' message ignored
• Doctor laments low vaccination turnout

No doubt, in the wake of these damning headlines, there will be calls from the government's legions of health educators for a bigger preventative health budget to fund a redoubling of their educational efforts. But the message I'm getting is that health education doesn't work, so the preventative health budget should be slashed, not increased.

Of course, further research is needed to determine whether public health education is ineffective, or just expensive. But the onus of proof lies not with the long-suffering taxpayer who is forced to pay for these educational forays but with the health educators.

For years now, cigarette packets have been adorned with big black-lettered labels saying that "Smoking Kills". You can't get much straighter to the point than that. Yet 25% of the adult population continue to smoke. If the message isn't getting through, isn't it time to give up?