Tackling Childhood Obesity in London

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Tackling Childhood Obesity Regional Conference
Tackling Childhood Obesity Regional Conference
Newcastle Thursday 3rd May 2007
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The importance of engaging all aspects of
education in the challenge of reducing childhood
obesityDave Smith Childrens Services Adviser
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Trend Data

• Between 1995 and 2004, the prevalence of obesity
  among children aged 2 to 10 rose from 9.9 to
  14.3.
• The percentage of children aged 2 to 10 who were
  overweight (including those who were obese) rose
  from 22.7 in 1995 to 27.7 in 2003.
• For boys, obesity rose from 9.6 in 1995 to 14.9
  in 2003, for girls obesity rose from 10.3 in
  1995 to 12.5 in 2003.
• Increases in obesity prevalence were most
  significant among older children aged 8 to
  10,rising from 11.2 in 1995 to 16.5 in 2003.

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Obesity by Government Office Region2001-2 Figures
North East 18.3
Yorkshire and the Humber 11.4
North West 15.0
East Midlands 14.5
East of England 14.1
West Midlands 15.8
London 18.2
South West 14.0
South East 13.4
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So What?

• Childhood obesity has been shown to be associated
  with several health risks including orthopedic,
  neurological, pulmonary, gastroenterological and
  endocrine conditions.
• Type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes is strongly
  associated with obesity
• Maybe equally importantly, obesity also affects
  children's pycho-social outcomes, through
  stigmatisation,discrimination, bullying and
  prejudice.

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• Research has linked obesity with low
  self-image,low self-confidence and depression.
• Recent U.S.research has reported that obese
  adolescents consider themselves bad students.
• These consequences may affect other aspects of
  children's lives, such as academic performance,
  with potentially even more serious adverse social
  outcomes in the long term.
• There is a need for more research evidence on the
  impact on outcomes.

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International Journal of Obesity - Childhood
overweight and elementary school outcomes (2006)

• Change in overweight status during the first 4
  years in school is a significant risk factor for
  adverse school outcomes among girls but not boys.
  
• Girls who become overweight during the early
  school years and those who start school being
  overweight and remain that way may need to be
  monitored carefully.
• Boys who became overweight were found to have
  more absences from school.

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U.S.Study (cont)

• This study is one of the first of its kind. It
  remains unclear why overweight children may
  perform less well at school and more research
  needs to be carried out in this area.
• There may be a link between self-esteem and
  learning. Being overweight may lower childrens
  self esteem, making it harder for them to
  concentrate in class so that they learn less.
• Possible health problems with obese children may
  affect attendance at school which in turn, will
  affect school performance. 

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Causal factors

• Diet/nutrition
• Physical activity-
• Data on trends in physical activity among young
  people are sparse and there is little direct
  evidence of a rise in sedentary lifestyles. What
  the data does show is
• - A decline in the number of young
  people playing sport at school.
• - A fall in the proportion of
  children walking to school.
• - A decline in the proportion of
  children cycling to school.
• - A possible rise in sedentary
  pastimes such as watching TV, playing computer
  games or accessing the internet.

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Key Issues

• Doing nothing is not an option
• Population problem not specific to one agency
  or profession
• Partnerships approach is essential at every level
  who are the right partners and how do we engage
  them?
• We have established our measures now we need to
  identify what works
• And then demonstrate that the suggested
  approaches are making a difference
• Workforce development issues

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• The public health White Paper Choosing Health
  Making Healthy Choices Easier setsout government
  commitments for action on obesity, including
  stemming the rise in obesity among children aged
  under 11.1
• This reflects the 2004 Public Service Agreement
  (PSA) shared by the Department of Health, the
  Department for Education and Skills and the
  Department for Culture, Media and Sport to halt
  the year-on-year rise in obesity among children
  aged under 11 by 2010 in the context of a broader
  strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a
  whole.

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Education Based Initiatives

• Schools provide an ideal setting for initiatives
  to improve dietary and physical activity
  patterns.
• Healthy Start a new initiative to replace the
  Welfare Foods Scheme.
• Sure Start/ Childrens Centres focuses on
  families and children up to age four living in
  the most deprived areas. It provides access to
  family support, advice on nurturing, health
  services and early learning.
• Other initiatives such as the provision of
  nursery education for all 3 year olds.

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Education Based Initiatives

• New and more challenging criteria for Healthy
  Schools Standard
• Compulsory nutrition standards for school lunches
  
• All primary schools are expected to teach food
  preparation, cooking and hygiene as it forms part
  of the National Curriculum up to age 11.
• National school fruit scheme (NSFS), entitles all
  4-6 year olds to a free piece of fruit each day.
• Food labelling the Food Standards Agency (FSA)
  is developing a range of resources (with DfES)
  for use in schools to explain how to use food
  labels effectively.

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Education Based Initiatives

• Deployment of school sport coordinators to build
  links between schools, develop competitive sports
  and after school activities, co-ordinate training
  of teachers and promote physically active
  lifestyles.
• PE now a compulsory part of the National
  Curriculum up to age 16. 2 hours a week for 5-16
  year olds.
• Investment in new opportunities funding to
  build/refurbish school sports facilities that
  will also be available for community use.
  Increased investment in PE and school sport of
  over 450 million.
• Healthy travel to school School Travel
  Advisory Group publishes guidance.
• DoH and DfES also support a Safe and Sound
  Challenge to encourage walking buses, cycle
  clubs etc

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Education Based Initiatives

• Schools to promote physical activity and a
  healthy diet through consideration of
• - the layout of the building
• - provision of recreational
  space
• - catering, including
  nutrition and vending machines
• - food brought into the
  school by pupils
• - the curriculum, including
  PE
• - school travel plans
• - extended schools
• Staff training
• Establish partnerships
• Sustained interventions.

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Tackling Childhood Obesity Regional Conference
Tackling Childhood Obesity Regional Conference
Newcastle Thursday 3rd May 2007