More than 16,000 overweight or obese children have taken part in a government weight-loss initiative in the past three years, according to new figures, but experts have raised concerns about how effective the programme has been.
The statistics show that health boards exceeded their target of 14,910 “child healthy weight interventions” between April 2012 and March 2014, with a total of 16,820 delivered across Scotland in that period.
The scheme is part of the government’s strategy to tackle childhood obesity, and aims to change behaviour in overweight and obese young people aged 2-15 and their families through sessions focusing on diet and physical activity. But doctors and parents remain concerned that the approach fails to adequately help those most in need of support.
According to an evaluation report published by NHS Health Scotland last October, only limited numbers of participants have access to specially tailored group or individual sessions. The rest are taught in classes at school.
Professor Charlotte Wright of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said that although the government deserved credit for taking action to tackle obesity, the huge target had presented a challenge to health boards. As a result, the majority of children received sessions delivered in the classroom, which provided a cost-effective way to reach such large numbers.
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