The New Zealand Government and Obesity..

Is there enough awareness surrounding obesity in New Zealand?

Stanton and Hills (2004) states the New Zealand government is not doing enough to help fight the obesity epidemic in New Zealand. Stanton and Hills (2004) feel that the government should be introducing more "anti-obesity" awareness within schools. This may help children to become aware of the affects and reasons behind obesity. However it seems the National government does not feel the same way as the Obesity Action Coalition's funding was cut and schools canteen healthy regulations were reversed when the National government came into power. After a long fight to have healthy canteen foods within the school setting National decided to reverse the action which left many people upset after finally starting to make healthier changes within their community.

"Check out the interview in this link"

While searching lead.com (Ministry of Education, 2010) I found there is no National policy directly on childhood obesity, however there are links to government funded websites such as: 

5 plus a day
SPARC
Mission on case study.

Physical guidelines (created by SPARC) have been put in place for children ages 5-18 years old. The guidelines are not guidelines to follow within the schools they are ideas for the home. It appears there are no guidelines for children under the age of 5 years of age, however there are a range of "activities"  such as : Rolling, crawling, walking, running, jumping and balancing. There is also a link to SPARC for more ideas.

(Ministry of Education, 2010; Ministry of Education, 2006).

Healthy eating - Healthy Action. Oranga Kia - Oranga Pumau. 

Healthy eating - Healthy Action. Oranga Kia - Oranga Pumau (HEHA) is a New Zealand health strategy from the New Zealand Government and other private and public sectors which aimed to improve nutrition, physical activity and to reduce obesity. As the Ministry of Health has admitted obesity is not an easy problem to tackle, they believe changing food and nutrition may help to change community's and peoples lifestyles (Ministry of Health, 2007). HEHA is still up and running however the network is now called "weight management".

As two out of every five deaths are due to nutrition related factors such as obesity (Ministry of Health, n/d)  I am asking myself what is our government not doing more to help prevent obesity within our society? In 2010 The Labour party announced they they would take GST on fruit and vegetables. The move was to help low income families to build better lifestyles, however John Key quickly dismissed the idea as he stated it system would be to completed ( NZPA, 2007). I believe that is vegetables and fruit were more affordable people may start buying them instead of fast foods.

There are a number of resources available to early childhood centres surrounding food and nutrition, which include recipes, information, links to Te Whariki, guidelines and breast feeding advice

Check out the book!

Over the past few weeks I have really become aware of the affects of childhood obesity. It has opened my eyes to the importance of role modeling and the support teachers can give to children and their families if they work together. I hope you have enjoyed my blog and have gained more awareness to support the fight against obesity.

Reference:

Ministry of Education. (2010). Health and PE. Retrieved 22 April, 2011, from http://www.lead.ece.govt.nz/EducateHome/learning/curriculumAndLearning/Learningresources/HealthandPE.aspx

Ministry of Education. (2006). Physical activity for healthy confident kids. Guidelines for sustainable in school communities. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Ministry of Health. (2007). Healthy Eating - Healthy action. Oranga Kai - Oranga Pumau: Progress on implementing HEHA strategy 2007. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.

Ministry of Health. (n/d). Healthy Eating - Healthy action. Oranga Kai - Oranga Pumau.Why is nutrition, physical activity and obesity important? Retrieved April 22, 2011, from http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/heha-importance

NZPA. (2010). Labour confirms GST-free fruit and vegetable policy. Retrieved April 22, 2011, from http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/labour-confirms-gst-free-fruit-and-veg-policy-130584

Stanton, R., & Hills, A. (2004). A matter of fat. Understanding and overcoming obesity in kids. Christchurch, New Zealand: Hazard Press.