Health Campaign Group Concerned About Delayed Government Childhood Obesity Strategy

After already being delayed for months, the Department of Health has now confirmed that the strategy will not be published until Summer 2016, after the European referendum.

Opportunities are being missed to protect child health
With almost two thirds of adults and almost a third of children in the UK overweight or obese, members of the Alliance have warned that every day without an effective strategy in place means that the obesity time bomb is ticking, and that opportunities are being missed to protect the health and wellbeing of children and their families.

 

Ben Reynolds, Deputy Coordinator of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming commented: “We have some sympathy with the Government who have clearly been overwhelmed by the scale of the task in coming up with a response to the childhood obesity crisis. They will have to hope that the generation of children who will be short served by this inaction will be as sympathetic.”

 

Prime Minister must show strong leadership
The group members say it is vital that the Prime Minister shows strong leadership, and calls on the Government to take urgent steps to address the obesity crisis. Being overweight or obese poses significant risk factors for serious health conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, a range of cancers and poor mental health. These conditions have a devastating impact on our nation’s health and also place a huge financial burden on the NHS.

 

“Another view is that this is not a top priority for the Government, who it would appear don’t have the capacity, or the desire, to deal with more than one thing at a time,” Reynolds adds. “The evidence presented by all the Government’s health experts is clear on the need to act, what to act on, and the urgency of acting now. Action on restricting junk food advertising, promotions and sponsorship should not be delayed.”
 
“While his colleagues dawdle, we call on [British Chancellor of the Exchequer] George Osborne to go some way to addressing this by introducing a sugary drinks tax in his next budget in March. In recent months the Welsh assembly and Northern Irish assembly have both passed motions in favour of a sugary drinks tax, with other countries including Ireland and South Africa now look set to introduce something similar. This makes the UK government look woefully out of touch with its commitment to deal with the problem of childhood obesity and diet related disease.”

 

The Obesity Health Alliance has set out three key actions (listed below) that it wants the Government to implement in its Childhood Obesity Strategy as a priority so that it is easier for people to make healthier choices and live healthier lives. This includes targets for food manufacturers to reduce the amount of saturated fat, salt and added sugar in their foods, meaningful restrictions to reduce children’s exposure to unhealthy food and drink marketing, and a 20 percent tax on sugar sweetened beverages.

 

"The Government has once again delayed its strategy"
Chris Askew, Diabetes UK Chief Executive, said: “It’s disappointing that the Government has once again delayed the publication of its Childhood Obesity Strategy. Every day that goes by without tough new measures to deal with the obesity crisis means that more children are going to be at risk of developing serious, and preventable, health conditions in later life such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers. This is why we are calling on the Government to implement an effective Childhood Obesity Strategy to address the obesity crisis as a matter of urgency. This must include setting targets for manufacturers to make their products healthier; restricting marketing of unhealthy food and drinks to children; and introducing a 20 percent tax on sugar-sweetened drinks. Without action we will continue to see high rates of devastating health conditions and increased costs to our already stretched health service.”

 

Jane Landon, Deputy Chief executive of the UK Health Forum, also commented: “The Government has pledged its firm commitment to tackling child obesity, but we simply cannot afford a delay in taking action. As the clock ticks, the prevalence of obesity continues to rise, adding to already unsustainable demands on health and social care services.”

 

Alison Cox, Director of Prevention at Cancer Research UK, agrees: “David Cameron has called children’s obesity a crisis and yet the Government has failed the next generation by stalling on one of their own health priorities. While the Government delays, more children will become obese. Our survey shows people want the Government to act to fight children’s obesity – 8 out of 10 think it’s a problem.  To help prevent thousands of cancer cases we want a ban on junk food ads during family viewing times, a sugary drinks tax and more sugar taken out of food. The future health of our children depends on strong action right now. Every day counts.”

 

Professor Russell Viner, Officer for Health Promotion at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: “With every day that passes, more children are at risk of developing serious conditions associated with obesity. These include type two diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma. So yet another delay in the publication of Government’s childhood obesity strategy gives great cause for concern.  We call on Government to give a definitive date, and urge them to publish their strategy sooner rather than later; before more children fall foul of this terrible condition.”

 

Professor John Wass, the Royal College of Physicians’ Special Adviser on Obesity, adds: “The delay in publishing the strategy is extremely disappointing, and a hugely missed opportunity to save lives, improve patient care and save NHS funds.”

 

Professor John Ashton, President of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said: “We are disappointed that a strategy to tackle childhood obesity has been further delayed. A duty on sugary drinks would prevent over 300,000 cases of obesity among children and adults each month. Children only have one chance at a good start in life, and so we all need to each play our part in protecting their health.”

 

Obesity Health Alliance three key actions:
1)         The Government should introduce a ban on advertisements before the 9pm watershed for food and drink products that are high in saturated fat, salt and sugar. Alongside this, regulation governing on-demand services and online advertisements should be tightened to align with broadcast regulations. 

 

2)         The Government should take action to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) by introducing a 20 percent tax on SSBs. The impact of this tax should be monitored and evaluated annually with revenue raised reinvested in public health promotion.

 

3)         The Government should develop an independent set of incremental reformulation targets for industry, backed by regulation and which are measured and time bound. These targets should address salt, sugar and saturated fat levels. Compliance with these targets should be monitored and non-compliance should be backed by meaningful sanctions.