Childhood Obesity: Stemming the Tide of a Threat to Global Child Health

Abstract

One morning some weeks ago, as I walked to my local train station for the journey to my office at the University of Southampton, I was astounded to see a young person devouring a whole family size bag of potato chips, presumably for breakfast! In December 2015 the chief medical officer of England, Professor Dame Sally C. Davies published her annual report entitled The Health of the 51%: Women. Her report is oriented towards the gender of 51% of the UK population, i.e., women, and highlights the growing health burden of obesity (Davies, 2015). It is perhaps important to note that the health warnings of the English chief medical officer which are aimed at women also apply to the female health service workforce which is not immune to the health risks that apply to their own gender. Some might wonder why the English chief medical officer has concentrated her report on the 51% of the population who are female. Given the pivotal role that women in society play in child rearing, where the health of their children and their own health may be inextricably linked, this is not erroneous. Data discussed in this report from 2013 show that there are an estimated 3.2 million people with diabetes in the UK, predicted to reach 4 million by 2025.Much of this increase is predicated on rising levels of societal obesity. In England the proportion of men and women classified as obese has increased in recent years and the chief medical officer is committed to tackling obesity in the whole population and sees this as an COMPREHENSIVE CHILD AND ADOLESCENT NURSING 2016, VOL. 39, NO. 1, 1–4 http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/01460862.2016.1145020