Rising child obesity calls for ‘social vaccine’

THERE is a lot to be aware of during August. Not only is it Women’s Month and Organ Donor Awareness Month, but it’s also Child Health Month.

So it was apt that I found myself delivering a talk on health and wellness to a group of primary school teachers last week, with a special emphasis on how we can influence the health habits of our children. Unfortunately the stats relating to children’s health are not great. In South Africa, 23% of children aged two to five are overweight or obese. Interestingly, and equally problematic, is that for the first time in history, there are more overweight or obese children than there are undernourished or stunted kids. These stats are contained in the latest Healthy Active Kids SA (Haksa) report card released about a year ago. The report, which grades the physical activity and eating behaviour of children aged six to 18, revealed that less than half of them surveyed play sport or engage in physical activity. It also reveals that our teens are drinking more than one sugar-sweetened soft drink every day and consuming three times the recommended amount of sugar a week.

With fast food generally being cheaper than goodquality, healthy whole foods it’s not surprising that the children reported an average intake of fast food 11 times a week.

Added to this, children aged between 10 and 17 watch TV for an average of three hours a day, with preschoolers spending as much as three-quarters of their day inactive and up to 86% of their time indoors.

What’s the answer? The Haksa report calls for a

“social vaccine”. Society has to get involved in promoting healthy lifestyles and nutrition choices and to be good examples for children. I try to be a good example through my involvement with the 15 papers I edit in the annual Move 4 Health Campaign run by the Sports Science Institute of SA,S one of Haksa’s strategic partners.

During the campaign, we publish a free six-week programme to get people, specifically kids, off the couch and ready for a 6km fun run/ walk on November 4.

The media campaign in Cape Community Newspapers runs from September 11, with the first part of the training programme the next week.