20.10.17
Obesity in schools continuing to rise
Nearly a quarter of school children in reception classes in England are overweight – and the figure goes up to almost a third by year six.
A study from the NHS Digital’s National Child Measurement Programme found that the prevalence of obesity has increased since 2015-16 for reception, but remained similar in year six.
For reception it has increased from 9.3% to 9.6%, while for year six it remained fairly stable at 20% over the last year.
“The government needs to demonstrate its commitment to children’s health by setting out a stronger strategy for how it and others can reduce the percentage of children who are overweight and obese,” David Buck, senior fellow in public health and inequalities at The King’s Fund.
“While progress on reducing the amount of sugar in soft drinks has been a welcome step forward, these are problems where a ‘pick-and-mix’ approach to policies is nowhere near enough to address one of the biggest public health challenges of our time.”
The report also found that obesity prevalence for children living in the most deprived areas was more than double that of those living in the least deprived areas for both reception and year six.
Obesity also varied by local authority. For reception this ranged from 4.8% in Kingston-upon-Thames to 13.5% in Wolverhampton.
“The latest data also shows that inequalities are widening, with children from the most deprived areas more than twice as likely to be obese as those from the least deprived,” said Buck.
“At a time when action is badly needed, councils are struggling to find funds to support childhood obesity prevention and the government’s childhood obesity plan is over-reliant on voluntary measures and working with industry, despite its welcome commitment to the sugar levy.”
The government was already warned in March this year by the Health Select Committee about the rise of childhood obesity problems.
It has been repeatedly stated by leaders in the health industry that the issue must be tackled and clear goals must be put in place.