Wonder why your school-going child is gaining excess weight?

The Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (Haad) has released statistics that show that 30 per cent of students are either obese or overweight, while 9.9 per cent of preschool children are found to be anaemic.

And the reason is more than obvious – Haad’s Global School Health Survey of students across all schools in the country highlights that only about a quarter (27.5 per cent) of students are physically active for a total of 60 minutes per day, which goes on to show that they are not burning as many calories as perhaps their parents did during their childhood.

In addition, survey data shows that about half of UAE’s students skip breakfast in the morning, and equal number of students does not have their fair share of fruits and vegetables during the day.

According to the data, 56 per cent have breakfast in the morning, 47 per cent eat at least one piece of fruit per day and 56 per cent eat at least one serving of vegetables per day. Which in effect means that 44 per cent do not have breakfast, 53 per cent do not eat even one piece of fruit a day, and 44 per cent do not have even one serving of vegetables per day.

So what are their parents feeding them, if not fruits and vegetables? Haad statistics show that 42 per cent of students drink carbonated soft drinks one or more times per day, while 18 per cent eat at fast food restaurants three times or more per week.

Haad has been actively trying to inculcate healthy eating habits among school children with its “Eat Right Get Active” program, a school based health awareness program with the aim of improving health status among school students through healthy eating habits and physical activities.

Held under the patronage of Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the Health Authority Abu Dhabi launched the Eat Right and Get Active programme in January 2011. The programme is a collaborative effort between the Health Authority Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Education Council, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority and Ambulatory Healthcare Services. Since the launch of the program, over 60 schools have participated in the program.

In order to ensure continuous improvement, each school conducts a pre and post implementation assessment. An evaluation of these assessments showed that there had been significant improvements in the healthy eating and physical activity school environments and in the student’s healthy eating behaviours.

The assessment of healthy eating opportunities included improvements in the

· Availability of nutrition policy in schools from 35.7 to 78.6 per cent ,

· mImplementation of the school canteen guidelines from 85.7 to 100 per cent

· Monthly healthy eating awareness sessions  from 78 to 92 per cent; and

· The availability of healthy eating options at school premises (canteens, vending machines and during events) from 64.3 to 71.4 per cent

The assessment of physical activity opportunities included improvements in the:

· The percentage of schools adapting a physical activity policy from 46.7 to 80 per cent ;

· The implementation of evidence based curriculum to increase students’ physical activity levels from 73.3 t0 100  per cent;

· The percentage of schools offering at least 3 Physical Exercise classes of 40 minutes per week from 33 to 60 per cent; and

· The percentage of schools offering sports program after school hours from 26 to 46 per cent

Dr. Omniyat AL Hajri, Director of Public Health and Research at Haad, said: “With the help of Abu Dhabi Education Council, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority and Ambulatory Healthcare Services, we aim to support schools in implementing the Eat Right & Get Active Program across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

“The schools have done an excellent job in implementing the programme and we are delighted to see how this is improving the both the healthy eating and physical activity opportunities as well as the healthy eating habits of the students in these schools. This will help us to improve the health status of our children and to create health aware generation, and we congratulate them on their efforts.

“Creating the necessary environment to promote and encourage healthy living among students doesn’t end at schools; there is a need for more integrated efforts and engagement from parents and food business. Parent’s support in educating children on healthy eating, avoiding fast food, doing more physical activity is essential, and without it we will not see the change that is needed. In addition, adding nutrition facts to food labels or at restaurants will help in complementing our efforts.”  

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