Reducing childhood obesity update
From the Ministry of Health and partner agencies
September 2016
Welcome to the third edition of the reducing Childhood Obesity Update. Each quarter we’ll send you emails on the various initiatives within the Childhood Obesity Plan as well as other childhood obesity-related activities being undertaken by the government agencies involved in the Plan.
Play.Sport update
It is just over six months since Sport New Zealand launched Play.sport. The programme offers a multi-layered approach to the provision of PE and sport with hands on, practical support and training for teachers, schools, parents and community organisations to improve the quality of the experience for young people.
The programme encompasses the new approach of Sport New Zealand’s Community Sport Strategy, focusing on the needs of participants, local delivery and sport in schools. As a way of keeping our partners who are across the initiative informed about what’s been happening in the schools and communities involved, we’re sending out a quarterly newsletter with updates from our PE facilitators, mentors and school sport activators.
Sir Peter Gluckman and the WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity
Early this year Sir Peter spoke to government officials about the recommendations made by the World Health Organization Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity.
Keeping young people active
Sport New Zealand has recently released a 'plan of attack' for keeping young people in New Zealand active. The Young People Plan has been developed to provide leadership and direction for all those working with young people in community sport to ensure Kiwi kids develop a lifelong love of being physically active.
In response to an international trend of increased inactivity and indications that fewer Kiwi kids are taking part in sport or physical activity, the Young People Plan is based on the insights gathered by speaking to a range of young people - from the sporty to the non-sporty – about why they participate and why they don’t.
Sport New Zealand’s Community Sport General Manager, Geoff Barry, says that the world young people live in has changed and that our sport system needs to take a fresh look at what we provide for young people to ensure we attract and retain them as participants in community sport.
“It all comes down to whether they enjoy it and whether they’re having fun, and fun does not just take one form for young people,” he says. “For our young people to develop a lifelong love of being physically active, the quality of opportunities, experiences and support on offer is critical and needs to be developed and improved.”
Healthy Families NZ supporting local leadership
Healthy Families NZ sites across the country are supporting local leaders to make big changes that impact on community health and wellbeing.
In a show of leadership in the battle for healthier environments, Auckland Council recently announced it is dropping sugar-sweetened drinks from vending machines at council-run leisure centres. This move has been driven by Healthy Families Manukau, Manurewa-Papakura working in partnership with Auckland Council colleagues.
“We operate 21 leisure centres that are community led and we work hard to encourage Aucklanders to be more active more often as we strive to be the world’s most liveable city. It just doesn’t fit to sell sugary drinks in places where we are trying to support healthier lifestyles,” says Auckland Council’s Chief Executive, Stephen Town.
The decision will eliminate 340 kilograms a year of refined sugar – equal to 85,000 sugar cubes - from its vending machine sales by replacing three quarters of the drinks on offer (11,000 out of 15,000 total sales in 15 vending machines).
If stacked, the sugar cubes would reach 4.5 times the height of Auckland’s Sky Tower.
Auckland Council’s leadership has sparked enquiries from other organisations across the country and from as far afield as England who are interested in following suit.
Health promoting schools update
Health Promoting Schools involves the Ministry of Health working with the school community to address their health and wellbeing priorities.
Since the Childhood Obesity Plan was launched in October 2015 94 new schools have signed up to the Health Promoting Schools programme. With young people spending approximately a third of their waking hours during the school term at school, schools have an important role to play in influencing their physical activity and food choices.
By encouraging the wider school community to get involved we’ve seen schools embrace some exciting and innovative changes which are having a positive impact on the students.
Lakeview School in the Wairarapa identified getting active while having fun as a priority. This led to the parents helping to build a 540 metre bike track which includes a skills section.
Mahora School in Hastings identified that healthier food options were needed. They’ve made a number of changes including offering stickers instead of chocolate bars and introducing ‘brain food time’ during which kids are encouraged to eat fruit.
Having challenging conversations
Talking with families about childhood obesity can be challenging, but now there are two new courses to help health practitioners have more meaningful discussions about this difficult topic.
The Healthy Start Workforce Project offers professional development courses for health practitioners who work in the field of maternal and child health. The team offer two programmes to support healthy lifestyle behaviour change:
- An online education programme which explores the science behind why nutrition and physical activity in pregnancy and the early years are so important for long-term health.
- A Healthy Conversation Skills workshop which gives participants the tools to better support clients to make lasting lifestyle behaviour changes.
The two programmes are complementary, with the online education
programme detailing why nutrition and physical activity are so important in the early years, while the Healthy Conversation Skills workshop explores how to support clients to make sustainable changes in these areas.
Midwife Briony Raven, says the online education programme changed her approach to midwifery.
“The course was so relevant to what I was doing every day. It really stressed the importance of diet and exercise for me. In the past, I thought eating well in pregnancy was a ‘nice to have’, now I realise it can make a massive difference to the future health of the unborn baby,” she says.
Dietitian Deirdre Nielsen says the Healthy Conversation Skills workshop transformed the way she interacts with clients.
“I’ve found that this approach definitely gets a response from clients and helps them identify what they want to change. I’ve found it to be a very powerful,” she says.
Both courses are free to maternal and child health practitioners.
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Contact us
If you have any questions please feel free to contact the Ministry of Health Reducing Childhood Obesity Programme Team
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