Hanoi takes action to lower childhood obesity rate

The Hanoi Department of Health and the municipal Department of Education and Training on Monday jointly launched an overweight and obesity intervention, prevention, and fighting model at some elementary schools amid the soaring obesity rate in the Vietnamese capital city.

The model will be first implemented at La Thanh Elementary School in Dong Da District, Nguyen Du Elementary School in Hoan Kiem District, and Le Loi Elementary School in Ha Dong District until 2025.

The model is meant to provide parents, teachers, school staff, and students with knowledge about obesity prevention, offer standard meals to obese students, encourage students to do regular exercise, and manage obesity rates at these elementary schools.

According to the National Institute of Nutrition, obesity rates in Vietnam have tripled since 1975, making the prevention of overweight and obesity so important.

In Hanoi, the obesity rate among elementary school students was the highest, at 37.8 percent, according to the results of nutrition assessment via a survey on students in grades 5, 9, and 12 at 90 schools during the 2017-21 period.

Meanwhile, the rate of obesity among middle school students reached 16.8 percent and that among high school students stood at 11.3 percent.

Notably, the rate of childhood obesity surged each year during the period. The rate was higher in inner-city districts than in the suburbs.

Some elementary schools in the inner-city areas reported a rate of obesity up to 55.7 percent.

The obesity intervention and prevention model targeting elementary school students aims to achieve high efficiency, as this stage of children's development is considered crucial for their growth.

Speaking at the launch, deputy director of the Department of Health Vu Cao Cuong said that a series of programs had previously been deployed to ensure food safety and malnutrition prevention at schools.

These initiatives yielded positive results and contributed to helping improve students’ physical and mental health.

Following these activities, the two departments continued to roll out the anti-obesity model at some elementary schools in the city to improve awareness of the importance of proper nutrition and diets among parents and students.

Obesity, caused by an unreasonable diet, no physical exercise, psychological issues, and genes, is a major factor for many illnesses such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, and cancer.

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