30 January 2009
By Paul Dicken
The Welsh Assembly Government is to provide intensive help for obese children and their families in a £1.4m scheme.
Around 2,000 children aged between 7 and 13 will take part in a ten-week course, which is thought to be the first national programme of its kind. Families will learn practical skills about healthy eating, including shopping on a budget, and take part in physical activity.
Dr Tony Jewell, chief medical officer for Wales, said: 'It's vital that we tackle the obesity issue. Welsh children's rates of obesity are already too high and are increasing. Overweight or obese children are also more likely to be overweight or obese adults. More than half – 57% – of all adults in Wales are already overweight or obese.'
The Assembly Government estimates that around one in five 13-year-olds in Wales is overweight or obese. It hopes that the scheme will help children by using interactive learning, rather than focusing on weight loss.
The Mind, Exercise, Nutrition... Do It! – or Mend – programme was developed by child health experts at Great Ormond Street Hospital and the University College London Institute of Child Health.
The programme has been piloted in four areas of Wales and was shown to 'boost children's self-esteem while changing the way everyone in the family thinks about what they eat and being active'.
PFjan2009
