Member News
8th July 2011
MEND encourages families to get active during National Childhood Obesity Week.
This week, National Childhood Obesity Week (NCOW) saw the publication of a study showing that only 33 per cent of boys and 21 per cent of girls aged four to fifteen get the 60 active minutes of exercise a day recommended by the government. The research was carried out for MEND and Change4Life by the University of Worcester's Institute of Sport and Exercise Science. This is worrying news, when we already know that one in three children in the UK today is overweight or obese.
This week, public health minister Anne Milton rightly said that tackling obesity is about both improving people's diet and ensuring that children spend at least an hour being active every day. The question is, how can we make sure this happens?
To coincide with NCOW, MEND is running Move It Week, which aims to spread a positive message about the benefits of physical activity by encouraging families to spend time being active together. During the week, many of MEND's 350 healthy lifestyle programmes across the country are organising fun, physical activity events for programme participants, their families, and the wider community.
MEND delivery teams working in local communities can make a significant difference. But everyone has a role to play. National governing bodies of sport and community sports clubs, for example, have an important opportunity to get children more active both locally and nationally, particularly with one year to go until the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games. The private sector must also make a commitment to improving public health, and we hope to see new pledges through the Responsibility Deal in the coming months. And, of course, central government can lead the way in all of this by providing a strong strategic direction and championing successful national initiatives like the National Child Measurement Programme, which MEND is pleased to see continuing.
One year ago, during the inaugural NCOW, organisations came together by signing a charter, calling on the new coalition government to make addressing childhood obesity a public health priority. Due for publication in summer 2011, the forthcoming paper on obesity has perhaps been stalled by the current NHS reforms and the recent NHS listening exercise. MEND has, however, been feeding into the development of the paper and looks forward to seeing it published. We hope it will reinforce a commitment by the government to tackling childhood obesity and improving public health.
To find out more about MEND Move It Week and how you can get involved, visit www.mendprogramme.org/aboutus/mendin2011/moveitweek.
If you are an MP please support National Childhood Obesity Week by signing EDM 2045 http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-11/2045
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