AS THE MAJORITY OF CHILDREN return to school this week, the Ministry of Health is once again looking to tackle the problem of obesity.
It wants funding to carry out a follow-up Health Of The Nation survey after the last, five years ago, revealed damning statistics about the health of the island’s children.
In 2012, the survey, done in 26 schools, revealed that a third of the students were overweight and almost 15 per cent were obese. It also found that almost 75 per cent drank at least one sweet drink each day, but only 28 per cent got the recommended one hour of exercise.
Senior Medical Health Officer in the Ministry of Health, Dr Kenneth George, said while the ministry had not yet gone back into the field to do a follow-up he did not believe the figures had changed. (HLE)
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