Proportion of children with a healthy weight remains higher than pre-pandemic level
The most recent annual report of the Public Health Wales Child Measurement Programme shows that the number of children aged 4-5 years who were of a healthy weight is now higher than before the pandemic, with 73.5 per cent of children being in that category.
This year’s results, from the 2023-24 academic year, also showed a statistically significant difference between rural and urban areas, with 26.8 per cent of children in rural areas living with overweight or obesity, compared to 25.0 per cent in urban areas.
Once again there is a correlation between levels of obesity and deprivation across Wales, with children living in those areas which are designated as the ‘most deprived fifth’ of the country most likely to be living with overweight or obesity, and those residing in the least deprived fifth least likely. At Local Authority level the proportion of children having obesity ranged from 9.0 per cent in Monmouthshire to 14.1 per cent in Carmarthenshire.
The Child Measurement Programme is a national surveillance programme which examines height and weight data annually collected from children in Reception classes across Wales. The purpose of the report is to deliver data about how children are growing so that NHS Wales can better plan and deliver health services on national, health board, and local authority levels. The programme is coordinated by Public Health Wales and delivered by school nursing teams from each of the seven health boards.
For Wales overall, there was a return to pre-pandemic levels of participation, with more than 93 per cent of children being part of the programme.
The proportion of children with obesity in Wales (11.8 per cent) was higher than that reported for England or Scotland.
Dr Llion Davies, Consultant in Public Health Medicine at Public Health Wales, said: “This year’s data from the Child Measurement Programme is comparable in many ways with that from last year, and could show that things have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
“The difference in proportions of children living with overweight and obesity between urban and rural areas is interesting and further research is being planned to look at this in greater detail.”
Giving children the best start in life is what every parent and carer wants to do, and evidence shows that this is the best way to help children to maintain a healthy weight through to adulthood.
A great source of information and resources is the Every Child Wales website from Public Health Wales, which includes parent information resources to help families to introduce healthy habits from the earliest age. In addition, the Family Food section provides really useful guidance around dealing with mealtimes, as well as tasty recipes that range from weaning up to meals for the whole family, suggestions for meal plans, ideas for food swaps to healthier foods and even shopping lists.
Rachel Bath, Consultant in Public Health in Health Improvement for Public Health Wales, said:
“The Every Child website gives parents really practical tools in order to help them give their children the best possible start.
“We know that parents want to do the right thing for their children, but we are also aware that there are many pressures that they face – whether it’s from the rising cost of living, having limited time to spend with their children, and also trying to come up with ideas for free and low-cost activities to do together.
“Being a healthy weight enables children to grow and play better, sleep better and have greater focus. Prevention is definitely better than cure – introducing and adopting healthy behaviours, as a family, from the start of a child’s life will give them lasting benefits.
“The rising cost of living is making it even harder for parents and carers to make healthy choices. We encourage people to check whether they are eligible for the Healthy Start scheme which helps some families to afford to buy fruit, vegetables and other healthy foods until their child is four years old.”
The report can be downloaded from here: