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The Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO) presented its final report to the WHO Director-General on 25th January, culminating a two-year process to address the alarming levels of childhood obesity and overweight globally.
The ECHO report proposes a range of recommendations for governments aimed at reversing the rising trend of children aged under 5 years becoming overweight and obese. At least 41 million children in this age group are obese or overweight, with the greatest rise in the number of children being obese or overweight coming from low- and middle-income countries.
As the Health & Wellness Pillar, we fully support the publication of this report and will discuss during the upcoming Steering Committee in March. We will use the recommendations listed within the report to guide our own strategies on helping empower consumers worldwide. Areas within the report that our industry could take action (based on the recommendations within the report), include:
- PROMOTE INTAKE OF HEALTHY FOODS – Areas for CGF to take Action: nutrition labelling, responsible marketing to children, nutrient profiling, FOP labelling, education and health literacy, access and availability, and support production of healthy foods.
- PROMOTE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY – Areas for CGF to take Action: promote physical activity and importance of enough sleep.
- PRECONCEPTION AND PREGNANCY CARE: Areas for CGF to take Action: nutrition guidance.
- EARLY CHILDHOOD DIET AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY – Areas for CGF to take Action: nutrition guidance, marketing to parents, education, portion size and community based actions.
- HEALTH, NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FOR SCHOOLAGE CHILDREN –Areas for CGF to take Action: access and availability of products, nutrition and health education and physical activity.
- WEIGHT MANAGEMENT – Areas for CGF to take Action: partner with health care professionals and provide easy-to-understand labelling.
