Obesity epidemic: government to consider making national obesity tests for children compulsory

 

Ministers have announced plans to give parents details about their children’s weight under the recently introduced National Child Measurement Programme for five and eleven year olds. The programme was initiated last year and claims to have been set up to enable the government to gather information about overweight and obese children. This information will then feed into tailor made programmes to combat obesity. Although not currently a compulsory initiative, proposals have suggested that the data obtained from the scheme could automatically be given to parents. Dr Terry Dovery, a psychologist at the University of Staffordshire who specialises in childhood obesity cautioned: "If you're wanting to target specific groups then you have to have the key stages in the process to help the child and parents". Other than monitoring the weight of children, it is not exactly clear what form the “tailor made programmes” will take or what advice and support parents will have if their child is considered obese or at risk of obesity.

The decision reignited the debate about the obesity epidemic in britain and the responsibility for tackling the problem. The number of people qualifying as obese in britain continues to grow year on year with british people and their children amongst the fattest in europe according to figures from the European Commission. One in 10 six-year old children in britain is believed to be obese and the total number of obese children has doubled since 1982.

Obesity currently costs the National Health Service £1 billion a year and an additional £2.6 billion in indirect costs. Estimates reveal that more than 12 million adults and one million children will be obese by 2010. The World Health Organisation predicts that there will be 2.3 billion overweight adults in the world by 2015; rising from 1.6 billion in 2005 and more than 700 million of them will be obese compared with 400 million in 2005. African men and women from the Caribbean are said to be above the national average for rates of obesity. According to some figures whilst almost 23% of the average male population and 23% of the female population are obese, 25% of men and 32% of women from the Caribbean are considered obese. Whilst some have made the valid assertion that there are variations in physiology that need to be considered, excessive weight is a great cause for concern nevertheless.

Obesity as a result of eating unhealthy food and lack of physical exercise has been linked to high blood pressure, cancer, heart disease, diabetes and declining fertility rates. The Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths report (CEMACH) released in December 2007 also revealed that obesity was the fastest growing cause of women dying in pregnancy or childbirth in Britain. Although the total number of deaths was low, medical experts considered the increase to be worrying and indicative of the growing problems caused by an increasingly overweight population.