Updated at 1:22 p.m. on April 19
The Sudbury and District Health Unit has graded itself a B when it comes to how its current efforts match up with recommendations put out by a provincial government-appointed childhood obesity panel last month.
The recommendations in the 64-page report, called No Time to Wait: The Healthy Kids Strategy, are designed to help the provincial government meet its goal of reducing childhood obesity by 20 per cent in five years.
“I'm pretty proud of the fact that we could show our clean laundry and our dirty laundry, in terms of looking at what we're doing well and where we need to improve,” said Sudbury and District Medical Officer of Health Dr. Penny Sutcliffe.
Sutcliffe, along with Lesley Andrade, a public health nutritionist with the health unit, presented a report card they've developed on the issue at the April 18 Sudbury and District Board of Health meeting.
Childhood obesity is an even bigger problem in the Sudbury region than it is in the province as a whole. About 29 per cent of local youths aged 12 to 17 are overweight or obese, as opposed to 21 per cent in Ontario overall.
As they age, overweight or obese kids are more likely to develop diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or arthritis, as well as be bullied, stigmatized or excluded.
Andrade said the health unit chose to act immediately on the provincial panel's recommendations because child obesity is a critical health issue.
“So certainly if the province were to roll out with initiatives we could take advantage of, that would be easier,” she said.
“But even in the absence of that, we're going to do everything we can so the Sudbury and Manitoulin district community is healthy.”
If the health unit had its way, though, it wouldn't be the only community organization grading its performance on child obesity prevention.
“The plea is for other sectors to also look at this to figure out what they are or could be doing more of to reduce the rates of childhood obesity,” said Sutcliffe, who served on the provincial child obesity panel.
The three pillars of the Healthy Kids Strategy are starting all kids on the path to health, change the food environment and create healthy communities.
The health unit has given itself a B when it comes to starting all kids on the path to health, as it believes it's doing a good job when it comes to providing prenatal classes and breastfeeding information, for example.
“But we also think there's more dots to connect up in that area,” Sutcliffe said.
“There are many other providers of these programs and services in our area, and we probably need to work better and collectively in making sure we have similar themes, messages and training.”
Working with local school boards to education students on the importance of staying fit and healthy in the years before becoming pregnant is also a priority, said Andrade.
“So we want to get at those young adults and really get them to engage in healthy behaviours when the time comes to conceive a child or if there is an unplanned pregnancy.”
The idea is to encourage them to “set their bodies up, if you will, to grow a healthy baby,” Andrade said.
When it comes to changing the food environment so that it's easier for families to make healthier food choices, the health unit has given itself a C+.
Sutcliffe said this is a difficult area for the health unit to work in, as many of the panel's recommendations, such as banning point-of-sale promotions of high-calorie foods, are under provincial jurisdiction.
“But we gave ourselves a C+ because we think there are some areas where we could have some more influence or control,” she said.
This includes encouraging municipalities to remove unhealthy foods from vending machines on its properties, for example, Sutcliffe said.
Ward 5 Coun. Ron Dupuis, who is also the chair of the Sudbury and District Board of Health, said he'll definitely be bringing the matter up before Greater Sudbury city council.
“When it comes to our vending machines, where the profits come to the city, I think we could certainly address those,” he said. “We can make sure there's healthy snacks available.”
City council already has a strong track record of health promotion, Dupuis said, bringing up the recent example of restricting smoking in municipal parks.
The health unit has given itself an A when it comes to its efforts to create healthy communities.
The provincial panel suggests a way to do this is to speed the implementation of provincial strategies surrounding poverty reduction and mental health and addiction.
Sutcliffe said the health unit already feels it does a good job of advocating for health equity. For example, every year, it calls for an increase to social assistance rates so recipients can afford to buy healthy food.
The provincial panel also recommends the province develop a healthy kids' social marketing campaign that focuses on healthy eating, active living, mental health and adequate sleep.
The health unit will also be launching its own social marketing campaign focusing on these areas by the end of 2013.
Another provincial recommendation is working with EPODE International, a child obesity prevention organization which helps community groups work toward a common goal of helping kids lead healthy, active lives.
The idea is to set up the program in 10 Ontario cities as a pilot program.
In a motion passed April 19, the Sudbury and District Board of Health advocated that the Sudbury region be chosen as one of the pilot cities.
“The reason it took the panel's interest is it was one of the few community-based prevention programs that's been evaluated, and been shown to be successful,” Sutcliffe said.
Original story
The Sudbury and District Health Unit has graded itself a B for how its programs match up with recommendations put out last month by a government-appointed panel examining the issue of childhood obesity.
The three pillars of the 64-page report called No Time to Wait: The Healthy Kids Strategy, released in March, are starting all kids on the path to health, change the food environment and create healthy communities.
In a report presented to the Sudbury and District Board of Health on April 18, the local health unit graded itself a B on the first recommendation, a C+ on the second and an A on the third.
Among the areas where it feels it can improve is working with partners such as school boards, community organizations and municipalities to provide preconception and prenatal training, as well as providing more healthy food choices at various venues.
The health unit also plans to develop a comprehensive social marketing campaign to educate, empower and support families in adopting healthy lifestyle behaviours.
Check back to NorthernLife.ca for more on this story.
