Obesity measures need to be more joined up, says report

Think tank 2020health’s latest report on obesity, which looks at prevention measures around the world, has shown that school-based measures must be complimented by other local policies to be most effective.

It shows that local community-based programmes for school-aged children are much more effective than interventions focused on school environments. This is particularly true of programmes in educational settings, the family home, community structures and the built environment.

The report’s author Jon Paxman said: “The UK government has rightly placed principal focus on children, but a health-in-all-policies approach has yet to be realised. Currently, school nutrition and exercise policies are diluted by an opt-in position among academies and free schools, and are not always observed by schools under the Local Authority.

“If the UK fails to implement joined-up, multi-sectoral obesity prevention strategies for children and their families across a range of local contexts, it has little hope in ever reversing the obesity epidemic among the wider population.”