[ad_1]
photo: 123 RF
The study found 51 per cent of Pacific children in New Zealand were obese or overweight.
Published in new zealand medical journal, By Willia Mann Evidence from international and local studies is summarized.
She told Radio New Zealand Pacific that Pacific Islander children were the focus of the article, which summarises the latest data from the New Zealand Health Survey.
“The study found that Pacific Islander children currently have the highest obesity rates of any ethnic group,” she said.
“Currently, 51 per cent of Pacific children fall into the obese or overweight category, which is more than 70,000 children.”
Mayne noted that obesity rates were 2.6 times higher among Pacific children compared to non-Pacific children, highlighting a key issue of health inequalities.
On the challenges facing Pacific families, Mayne said over the past few decades of research, it has been recognised that obesity is largely caused by life circumstances, which plays a huge role in driving the behaviours and actions of Pacific families.
“Unfortunately, we are surrounded by a so-called ‘obesity environment’ where unhealthy food is not only cheaper, but also widely available and heavily promoted.
“Unfortunately, we found that Pacific families are more susceptible to this ‘obesity environment’,” she said.
Mr Mun pointed out, for example, that currently 50 per cent of Pacific families live in areas of high socio-economic deprivation, and more than half of New Zealand’s fast food restaurants are currently located in these areas.
“In interviews with Pacific Islander families, many parents said the cost and convenience of junk food was the biggest reason they saw obesity in their children, while healthier foods were often perceived to be more expensive and time-consuming to prepare,” she said.
This means the problem is not with individual behavior but with the environment, which makes it difficult for families to choose healthier foods and many families cannot afford enough nutritious food, which is a sad reality, Men added.
She said nearly 40 per cent of Pacific children live with food insecurity, meaning not having regular access to enough food or food of adequate nutritional quality to meet basic needs.
Mann said a big issue was the state of inflation and whether many New Zealand families could afford to eat healthily.
“It’s sad that Pacific families have the highest rates of food poverty in New Zealand. Researchers tell us that children from food-insecure families tend to eat more fast food and sugary drinks,” Men said.
High rates of childhood obesity in the Pacific are nothing new, but Men said there had been a sharp increase in rates between 2019 and 2020, and up until now.
“This may be related to the COVID-19 pandemic, where the issue was superseded by other public health priorities,” she said.
Healthy Food Environment Policy Index Study
Mun said the research index measures how well governments are implementing policies to improve the food environment in line with international standards.
“The study found that over the past decade, more than half of the policies were poorly implemented or not implemented at all.
“As a result, New Zealand is falling short compared to other countries in many areas, including our food environment, and we are failing on our commitments to improve health and health equity for Pacific peoples.”
Answering your questions about sugar taxes Already adopted in New Caledonia and other Pacific countriesMen said limiting the sale of sugary drinks through taxation was one of the key policies recommended to the government by public health experts and was supported by international evidence, including World Health Organization guidelines.
“We think this has great potential to improve health equity for Pacific populations because a sugary drinks tax would benefit those with the highest consumption of sugary drinks the most,” she said.
A step in the right direction
Mann said that at a systemic level, there are some very good moves in the right direction.
“For example, last year, the first Pacific Islander health strategy, Te Mana Ola, was developed with the support of Pacific Islander communities and health workers across the country, and population health is the first priority area of Te Mana Ola,” she said.
Mance stressed that this included supporting initiatives to ensure all Pacific families had access to healthy affordable food, limiting the availability of fast food.
“At a community-led level, we’ve also seen some great initiatives in Pacific communities, such as nutrition and exercise programs involving schools, churches and local groups,” she said.
Mann noted that another policy she has seen is the “Healthy School Lunch” program, which provides free lunches to children in schools.
She hopes the program can continue and expand its reach to reach more Pacific families.
She said when looking at improving obesity in Pacific populations, programs needed to be designed to suit Pacific populations.
“I think a really important part of successful obesity intervention is empowering communities and families to take control of their own health and behaviors, and a big part of that is engaging families and communities.”
[ad_2]
Source link
