Hungarian radical party urges comprehensive health strategy

The opposition Mi Hazánk party proposes preparing a comprehensive strategy to improve the overall health status of Hungarians, Dóra Dúró, deputy leader of the party, told a press conference on Wednesday.

Dúró slammed the government for a recent, “insufficient and hypocritical” campaign against energy drinks, and insisted that in recent years the government had used billions of taxpayers’ forints to support Hell Energy Hungary, a company producing such drinks. The sum of 18 billion forints (EUR 45.7m) should have been used “to promote companies producing healthy food”, she said.

Hungary had the second highest number of preventable deaths among EU member states, largely due to unhealthy lifestyles, Dúró said. The government should “not just fight energy drinks but come up with a comprehensive health strategy”, especially regarding smoking, drinking, drugs, an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise, she said.