Azores Regional Health Plan 2030 aligned with national Health Indicator recommendations - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Saúde e Segurança Social

The Regional Secretariat for Health and Social Security considers that the results of the 2025 National Health Indicator (INS) should be interpreted with rigour and caution.

The INS is a health survey conducted through interviews, based on information self-reported by citizens themselves. As such, the results simultaneously reflect the occurrence of disease, the extent of diagnosis and contact with health services.

Considered as a whole, the INS highlights the challenges facing the Region in chronic non-communicable diseases and their main determinants, reinforcing the importance of an integrated approach to factors such as smoking, eating habits, physical activity, mental health and the prevention of cardiometabolic disease. Rather than revealing an unknown reality, these results reinforce the need to continue and step up sustained public policies based on prevention, health promotion and early intervention.

The survey also highlights some encouraging indicators.

In terms of addictive behaviours, the Region shows an overall more favourable pattern of alcohol consumption than the national average, being the second region in the country with the lowest prevalence of daily consumption (10.4%) and the one with the lowest weekly consumption (17.1%). Furthermore, between 2019 and 2025, daily alcohol consumption decreased from 11.3% to 10.4%, accompanied by an overall decrease in the prevalence of alcohol consumption over the past 12 months.

There are also positive signs regarding tobacco consumption. Between 2019 and 2025, the prevalence of smokers fell from 23.4% to 19.5% (-3.9 percentage points) and that of daily smokers from 21.2% to 18.1% (-3.1 percentage points), accompanied by an increase in the proportion of ex-smokers. Despite this favourable trend, smoking continues to represent one of the Region’s main public health challenges, calling for the need to strengthen strategies to prevent people from taking up smoking and support those wishing to quit.

This is precisely the approach that the Regional Secretariat for Health and Social Security intends to continue to consolidate in lined with the Azores Regional Health Plan 2030.

Key strategic priorities include: stepping up tobacco prevention and cessation efforts across all islands, preventing alcohol consumption in recreational settings and amongst young people, promoting healthier food environments, encouraging physical activity throughout life, improving the early detection and monitoring of high blood pressure, diabetes and dyslipidaemia, bolstering community mental health and health literacy, as well as a truly integrated approach based on the "Health in All Policies" principle.

It is important to note that many of the areas now highlighted by INS 2025 are already included as performance indicators in the Regional Health Service’s contractual agreements, reflecting the Azorean Government’s commitment to the prevention and control of chronic diseases. These include the management of diabetes and high blood pressure, the recording and monitoring of body mass index, the promotion of smoking cessation, and the structured follow-up of people with chronic conditions.

This contractual arrangement aligns healthcare provision with specific goals aimed at improving the health of the Azorean population, promoting prevention, early detection and the continuous improvement of the quality of care provided.

The Regional Secretariat also considers it a priority to bolster epidemiological surveillance mechanisms and monitor the trends in these indicators through official sources, advocating the reinstatement of the National Health Survey with Physical Examination (INSEF), which will complement these results with objective data.

The INS 2025 confirms that the challenges remain demanding. Nevertheless, it also shows signs of positive progress and tangible opportunities to improve the population’s health indicators. The key is no longer to identify problems but to consolidate the measures that have produced results, promoting a coordinated and integrated response underpinned by the best scientific evidence.

The Regional Secretariat for Health and Social Security reiterates its commitment to continuing to develop public policies to promote more years of healthy life for the Azorean population. These efforts will focus on the factors that have the greatest impact on disease prevention and the population’s quality of life, while acknowledging that the effects of the measures currently implemented will be felt gradually rather than immediately.