‘Our lean appeal to help our children’

From the archive, first published Saturday 23rd Feb 2008.

One in three 11-year-olds in the district is overweight or obese, latest figures reveal.

Of the 81 per cent of children weighed and measured in Year Six at schools in the Bradford district, 13.6 per cent are overweight and 19.5 per cent are obese.

The data for the year 2006/07 comes from the Government's National Child Measurement Programme, established in 2005, which checks children's height and weight in reception and again in Year Six.

In Bradford and Airedale 85 per cent of all reception class pupils - four to five-year-olds - were weighed and measured and of these 12.6 per cent are overweight and 10.7 per cent are obese.

Nationally, London has the highest obesity prevalence for both age groups - 11.3 per cent in reception and 20.8 per cent in year six.

The south-east coast has the lowest obesity prevalence for reception at 8.5 per cent and the south-west has the lowest prevalence for year six - 14.9 per cent.

The data was collected locally by Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust with the co-operation of primary schools. The information enables local health services to track and analyse trends in childhood obesity and help people lose weight and live healthy lives.

Jane Thompson, public health manager in obesity prevention for Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust, said: "Bradford uses the results of the national child measurement programme each year to spot trends and plan how we can reduce obesity across the district.

"We take a whole system approach to tackling obesity in children recognising that many organisations share the responsibility for preventing children's obesity, alongside parents and carers.

"We have introduced a wide range of community-based initiatives to provide good quality information to families and help them to eat well and exercise.

"These include childhood obesity and community coaches, joint funded by the local authority, who promote the benefits of exercise to children and work with Education Contracting Services (ECS) to help improve school meals.

"The Healthy Start Scheme in Bradford helps parents to understand how important diet is for children's growth and development.

"There are also plans in place to commission community-based childhood obesity programmes including the nationally-recognised MEND programme, which works with families around children's obesity.

"We are not going to change attitudes overnight but will continue to work with a range of partners including the local authority, hospitals and sports organisations such as Bradford Bulls and Yorkshire Sport and the voluntary sector to put plans into practice to support local families lead a healthier lifestyle - and make recommendations on how this issue should be tackled nationally."

Paul Gately, professor of exercise and obesity at Leeds Metropolitan University and director of Carnegie Weight Management, which runs summer courses at Woodhouse Grove School in Apperley Bridge for overweight teenagers, said: "The survey results provide an invaluable data set which unfortunately confirms previous findings.

"However, the report reinforces the Government's strategy to prioritise childhood obesity as a key issue and clearly demonstrate the need for action to resolve this public health crisis that is a grave reality check for our society."