Hanoi prevents overweight and obesity for students

From 2023 to 2025, the Hanoi Department of Health will coordinate with the Hanoi Department of Education and Training to deploy an intervention model to prevent overweight and obesity for students at a number of primary schools in the capital.

The rate of overweight and obese children in Vietnam is currently very worrying. According to the general nutrition survey, the rate of overweight and obese children nationwide increased sharply from 8.5% (in 2010) to 19% (in 2020).

The rate of overweight and obese children in Vietnam is currently very worrying.

Overweight and obesity cause many negative consequences for children's health, affecting physical and intellectual development, and increasing the risk of non-communicable diseases in adulthood.

Overweight and obese children not only make them feel inferior and self-conscious, but also create great pressure on their parents, who are the ones who directly care for them. There are children who are withdrawn and depressed because of being overweight or obese.

The results of a survey of 5,028 students at 75 schools in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Thai Nguyen, Nghe An, and Soc Trang showed that the rate of overweight and obesity among primary school students in both rural and urban areas was 29%; the rate of overweight and obesity among students in urban areas was higher than that in rural areas (41.9% and 17.8%).

The results of the assessment of nutritional status in school-age children from 2017 to 2021 in 90 schools in Hanoi in grades 5, 9, and 12 (with a sample size of about 7,300 students each year) showed that primary school students had the highest rate of overweight and obesity at 37.8%; while this rate in middle school students was 16.8% and in high school students was 11.3%.

Notably, the rate of overweight and obesity has increased rapidly over the years and is higher in inner-city areas than in suburban areas. In fact, some primary schools in inner-city areas have an overweight and obesity rate of up to 55.7%.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thi Nhung, Head of the Department of School and Professional Nutrition (National Institute of Nutrition), the rate of overweight and obese school children is very worrying. Overweight and obesity are the consequences of a long-term accumulation of excess energy in the diet.

There are many causes of overweight and obesity in children such as eating too much protein, lacking micronutrients; little physical activity; eating fast food, processed food, and foods high in sugar.

Being overweight and obese can lead to many serious consequences. When testing 500 obese children, 35-50% of them had dyslipidemia. Even now, diabetes is no longer an adult disease, but is becoming younger...

For preschool children, in many families, grandparents like their grandchildren to be chubby, so they give them too much nutrition. Or many families have the idea that children at school do not get enough to eat, so at night they often force feed their children too much, which gradually accumulates into overweight and obesity.

Another reason is that parents often let their children eat fast food, soft drinks, candy, ice cream, and snacks after school because of convenience, which is also the reason why children gain weight.

Accordingly, eating 1 dumpling has 400 calories, need to run for 2 hours to burn it all; 1 bottle of soft drink has more than 200-300 calories, need to be physically active for nearly 2 hours. However, children have to go to extra classes, have a lot of homework, so they do little physical activity. According to the recommendation of the World Health Organization, children and adolescents should exercise 60 minutes/day to avoid being overweight and obese.

In order to limit overweight and obesity in children, from 2023 to 2025, the Hanoi Department of Health will coordinate with the Hanoi Department of Education and Training to deploy an intervention model to prevent and combat overweight and obesity for students at a number of primary schools in the capital.

In the immediate future, the intervention model to prevent overweight and obesity will be implemented at three primary schools: La Thanh (Dong Da district), Nguyen Du (Hoan Kiem district) and Le Loi (Ha Dong district).

Through communication sessions, nutrition experts also recommended that parents with overweight or obese children should coordinate with medical staff and schools to provide reasonable nutritional meals and eat enough green vegetables according to recommendations for each age group.

In particular, parents should note not to regularly consume foods that increase the risk of overweight and obesity such as: soft drinks, milk tea, sweet cakes and candies, instant noodles, sausages, fried foods (fried chicken, fried spring rolls, fried fish balls...) around school or at home.

In addition, doctors also develop and apply a menu for overweight and obese children at home; at the same time, advise on supplementing some minerals and micronutrients (calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin D3, etc.) depending on the physical condition of each overweight and obese child at home.

Through these communication and nutrition counseling sessions, parents with overweight or obese children have committed to the school to follow the recommended nutritional regimen and physical exercise according to their children's age and nutritional status.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank, investing just $1 in child nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life will yield a return of $18 in the future; children who are cured of stunting are 33% more likely to escape poverty as adults, contributing to 3-10% of national GDP growth. This proves that child nutrition plays an important role in the economic development of each country.

To address existing nutritional problems and continue to strive to achieve basic health targets for the people, on January 5, 2022, the Prime Minister approved the National Nutrition Strategy for the period 2021 to 2030 and vision to 2045, with the general goal of ensuring appropriate nutrition to suit each subject, locality, region, and ethnicity, contributing to reducing the burden of disease, improving the stature, physical strength and intelligence of Vietnamese people.

From 2020-2022, the Government will include nutrition improvement activities in the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction for the 2021-2025 period; the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2030 period and the National Target Program on New Rural Development for the 2021-2025 period and a number of related projects and programs.

To successfully implement the targets and objectives of the National Nutrition Strategy in a sustainable manner, according to experts, it is necessary to promote communication to raise awareness among people, especially parents, about child nutrition.

Continue to mobilize all levels, sectors, international organizations, society and people to invest in both policies and resources to carry out tasks and solutions for nutrition.

In addition, develop and effectively implement nutrition policies (develop nutrition title standards in the community; warning labels, effectively implement existing policies). Improve capacity, train, coach, and develop staff working in nutrition.

Focus more on controlling overweight and obesity in people aged 5 to 19 and adults in urban areas; control metabolic disorders well, reduce the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases related to diet.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/ha-noi-phong-chong-thua-can-beo-phi-cho-hoc-sinh-d226943.html