The Guernsey Child Measurement Programme began in 2013 and since then has recorded the heights and weights of children in school Years 1 and 5 during the spring term every year, and analysed them to allow a population-level surveillance of weight status of children aged five to six and nine to 10.
81% of Year 1 pupils were found to be of a healthy weight, but this percentage dropped to 66.9% among the Year 5s.
8.3% of Year 1s were measured as overweight and 8.8% were classed as obese. In Year 5 those figures increased to 13.6% considered overweight and 18.1% obese. In total, 280 children across both year groups were estimated to be overweight or obese.
‘Childhood overweight and obesity are linked to a range of physical and mental health conditions and often persist into adulthood.
‘The drivers of body weight are complex and vary between individuals, but overweight and obesity are largely preventable. The findings of the Guernsey Child Measurement Programme highlight the continued need to focus on prevention by creating everyday environments that make healthy eating and physical activity easier for everyone,’ said Dr Simon Sebire, CEO of the Health Improvement Commission.
‘Improving childhood health requires cross-sector working, which is why we collaborate with early years providers, schools, youth and community settings, and the private sector, to strengthen our initiatives to achieve this.
‘We encourage everyone to consider how they can contribute to a healthier Bailiwick.’
92% of eligible children in both States and private schools participated in the programme. In both year groups, children at fee-paying schools recorded healthier weights.
‘A sustained difference in weight status by school fee status is a concerning health inequality,’ said Alex Hawkins-Drew, associate director of Public Health.
‘Working with our partners in the Health Improvement Commission, we will continue to look at the root causes of this inequality and how it can be addressed.’
She said that the aim of the programme was not focusing on the weight status of individuals, but to give a high-level view of weight status across the Bailiwick.
‘Data like this forms an important evidence-base for guiding decisions which, we hope, will have a direct impact on families with the aim of making it easy and affordable for the whole family to be healthy.’
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