School closures may raise obesity among kids: Experts

nNEWDELHI: School closures due to the Covid-19 outbreak could exacerbate childhood obesity, according to epidemiologists from the New York Academy of Medicine and others published in Obesity journal.

Increase in obesity among schoolchildren during the summer recess has already been documented by US public health experts. Surplus weight usually accrues every summer and obesity experienced at as young as five years of age has been shown to be associated with a higher

BMI (body mass index) at an older age, even up to 50 years.

More than 30 million children receive subsidised school lunches and food insecurity rates are higher for such families during summer months when there is a break in schooling. Only three days of school closures could result in 405,000 missed meals among schoolchildren in the US, according to the authors of the study cited above. Along with the impact of calorie-dense foods that can be stocked up during lockdowns, children in urban areas don’t have much physical activity . The authors cite data to show that online video game usage is already soaring.

In India, 115.9 million children are enrolled in the midday meal scheme. But due to the lockdown and disruptions associated with the Covid-19 outbreak, many states are not able to give children these meals. The human resource development ministry on March 20 asked states to provide either hot cooked midday meals or a food security allowance for the children’s families to buy food.

“As the country is passing through the difficult times of the Novel Covid-19 outbreak the state governments and Union Territories are advised to provide hot cooked Mid Day Meal or Food Security Allowance, whichever is feasible, to all eligible children till such time their schools are closed due to Novel Covid-l9 Virus. The modalities for this purpose may be decided by the respective states…the regular Mid Day Meal shall resume as soon as the schools reopen,” the letter to the states reads.

Kerala was among the first to start delivering meals to children at home. The state serves 2,584,156 children in 12,327 schools. “It’s very difficult to say what health impact the children here are going to face because the school closure may not be longterm. More worrying is the longterm impact on the socioeconomic condition of the parents. The government should deliver midday meals to children wherever they are,” said Dr Anand Krishnan, professor, Centre for Community Medicine at All India Institute Of Medical Sciences.

he outlined the steps taken by the government to contain the pandemic:

Coronavirus cases in Jammu and Kashmir have risen in the past few days. Is contract tracing emerging as a big challenge for you, especially as many people have come from outside the country?

Screening of all individuals coming from outside was initiated on March 4. Till now, nearly 33,503 travellers and persons in contact with the suspected and positive cases with travel history abroad have been put under surveillance. Out of these, 10,981 are in home quarantine, 100 in hospital isolation, 619 in hospital quarantine, 16,237 in home surveillance and 5566 with travel history abroad have completed their 28 days surveillance period. Till date, 1551 samples have been sent for testing of which 1429 tested negative, 106 positive with the number of deaths at 2. The government has undertaken an aggressive contact tracing and testing campaign — that is why there is surge in the number of confirmed positive cases.

Have you sought the assistance of army and paramilitary forces in controlling the situation?

No direct assistance of army and paramilitary forces has been currently sought to control the situation, though the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is deployed with the local police to assist in maintaining the restrictions during the lockdown. We have isolation and quarantine facilities in army hospitals across the UT. We have requested the army to provide additional isolation facilities of 500 beds each in J&K.

You have also started declaring Red zones in some parts of the UT? How alarming is the situation in those areas?

To take precautions and contain the spread of Covid-19, 38 villages across J&K have been declared as Red Zones, where complete restrictions have been enforced for movement of people. All essential commodities are being provided to the residents of these zones. The situation in these areas is not alarming but extra precaution is being taken.

Around 900 people of the UT are suspected to have participated in the Tablighi Jamaat conference in New Delhi from March 14 to March 21. Of these, 550 have been identified and quarantined and the survey and verifications for the remaining is on. We have intensified contact tracing campaign of the people who had this congregation at Delhi and are conducting 100% testing of such people and