A new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research promotes the significant benefits associated with taking a broad, 'whole society' approach to reducing childhood obesity in the UK.
The report notes the substantial growth in childhood obesity in recent decades, which has had costly knock-on costs for the NHS and society as a whole. “Obesity during childhood can result in substantial health threats to health and wellbeing throughout their life.”
New modelled estimates in The Whole Society Approach: Making a Giant Leap in Childhood Health report project that if the government achieves its aim of halving childhood obesity by 2030, it could save the NHS £37 billion and make savings of £202 billion to wider society over the lifetimes of the current generation of children in England.
These savings would come from reduced hospital admissions, improved productivity and increased workforce participation.
Among its key recommendations are that the government use fiscal incentives to drive progress on childhood obesity and mental health, such as a “non-essential food levy – based on energy density and limited to ‘non-essential’ foods.”
While welcoming the “positive inclusion” of social prescriptions for physical activity in the government’s July obesity strategy, the report says “there is opportunity to go further on diet and mental health.”
“We recommend NICE and the replacement for Public Health England are commissioned to establish cost effective and effective interventions on childhood obesity and mental health.”
Report co-author Chris Thomas said: “Success could facilitate the kind of major health gains the Victorian’s achieved through sanitation, or childhood immunisation in the 20th century. Failure could mean a century of stalled progress."
“Historically, major progress on health outcomes has come when contributions have come from across society – when business, community, people, government and public bodies have all played their part. We call on government to recreate that approach.”
This article originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
