Child health summit shares ideas for tackling child obesity
25.04.2007 21:54
Health
- Source: cbc.ca
Encouraging healthier lifestyles for children needs to be a national priority, a child health summit in Ottawa heard Wednesday. The hosts of the summit, the Canadian Medical Association, Canadian Paediatric Society and the College of Family Physicians of Canada, aim to make the country one of the top five in the world for healthiest children. In 2003, Canada's infant mortality rate stalled at 5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births while mortality rates in other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries continue to fall, the groups said. Obesity rates among Canadian children have tripled in 20 years, but there is a discrepancy between how people perceive the health of their children and the reality, said Olympian and child health advocate Silken Laumann, a co-chair for the event. Through the Active Kids Movement and her book Child's Play, Laumann hopes to reverse the 20-year trend toward inactivity and obesity. "It gives me hope that we can work together, that we can start as Canadians seeing that this a huge problem, but there is a lot we can do about it," said Laumann. In an interview with CBC Newsworld, Laumann suggested that families could start by getting children to be more active, with approaches such as: - Playing soccer or street hockey outside together.
- Walking to school.
- Working with neighbours to supervise local parks.
- Improving the quality of physical education instruction in schools.
- Looking for opportunities to increase physical activity during the school day.
Summit organizers drafted a Child Health Charter and Challenge that calls for children to have a safe and secure environment, good health and development, and a full range of health resources available to all. Children were interviewed in drafting the documents, but they also need a voice within Health Canada, the groups said. To that end, the summit also called for a commissioner dedicated to looking after the health needs of children, since the needs of adults often take precedence, Laumann said.
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