“Let's prevent childhood obesity: 1,2,3 and now!” This is the theme of the campaign launched this Tuesday (10) by the Ministry of Health, which allocated R$ 90 million to strengthen child care and nutrition.
And do you know how to participate in the movement? There are three steps:
Healthy eating – encourage the child to participate in choosing food and preparing meals. Rice, beans, fruits, vegetables and greens are the basis for healthy eating.
Physical activity – play together, play, jump, run. Encourage the replacement of time dedicated to digital devices, such as TV, cell phones and games, for games that move the body.
More outdoor games
“The prevention of childhood obesity must also be done in schools. This joint action is essential, and this has a reflection even on the parents”, said the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga.
“Obesity is a health problem in Brazil and in the world and it can last for the whole lives of our children if it is not effectively tackled”, highlighted the Minister of Education, Milton Ribeiro, who participated in the launch of the campaign.
Check out the campaign here
During the ceremony, an ordinance was signed establishing the National Strategy for the Prevention and Care of Childhood Obesity (Proteja), which seeks to articulate initiatives in the states, the Federal District and municipalities. An ordinance was also signed that allocates resources to cities with up to 30,000 inhabitants that, in 2019, registered overweight in more than 15% of children under 10 years of age.
The government's idea is to encourage municipalities to implement actions in all spaces that are frequented by children and their families. Among the measures are the monitoring, prevention and care of overweight in basic health units, offering healthy food and sports activities in schools and even creating or revitalizing spaces for physical activities. Interested municipalities must sign up by September 10th.
The Ministry of Health monitors children across the country through primary health care teams, who work at the health posts in each municipality. There are more than 40 thousand teams spread throughout Brazil.
According to data from the Food and Nutritional Surveillance System (Sisvan), 15.9% of children under 5 years of age, monitored in the SUS Primary Health Care, were overweight and 7.4% were obese.
In those aged between 5 and 9 years, the overweight rate rose to 31.8% and obesity to 15.8%. Among adolescents, 31.9% were overweight and 12% were obese. There are 6 million children under 10 years of age and 11 million overweight adolescents.
Indicators show that childhood obesity has been increasing in recent years and has worsened further due to restrictions imposed by Covid-19. “When we talk about going back to school, we are also talking about the prevention of childhood obesity, because these children who are not in the classroom because of the pandemic are eating poorly at home. Another deleterious effect of this pandemic that affects our children who have been deprived of classes for a year and a half,” said minister Marcelo Queiroga.
In addition, the Ministry of Health developed an online course, aimed at health professionals, on the prevention and control of excess weight. The course "Child Obesity: an overview of prevention and control in primary care" will be available on the Avasus platform and has a workload of 40 hours.
The Ministry of Health also launched, on Tuesday, a panel to support states and municipalities in the nutritional monitoring of children under 10 years in Primary Health Care (APS). Through the platform, it is possible to monitor data from the Food and Nutrition Surveillance System from 2018 to 2020. It is possible to filter the data by state of the situation of children by age group.