Seocho-gu Awarded Minister of Health and Welfare Commendation for Improving Obesity Rate Indicators

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Seocho-gu (Mayor Eunhee Jo) received a commendation from the Minister of Health and Welfare on May 22 for improving the 'obesity rate indicator' at the Community Health Survey Quality Management Evaluation Competition.

Seocho-gu Office has worked to curb the annually rising obesity rate by implementing customized obesity prevention policies for residents. As a result, Seocho-gu's obesity rate (23.9%) is 10.2% lower than the national average (34.1%), and according to data from the National Health Insurance Service (2018 Obesity White Paper), the female obesity rate (16.1%) was the lowest in Seoul. Over the past 10 years, while the national obesity rate increased by 10.2 percentage points, Seocho-gu's obesity rate increase was a moderate 5.2 percentage points.

Various health indicators have also significantly improved. The walking practice rate (60.4%) increased by 20.4 percentage points since 2011, nutrition label comprehension rate (40.4%) rose by 6.2 percentage points over three years from 2015, and the experience rate of efforts to practice low-sodium diets (67.1%) improved by 4.4 percentage points since 2015. The weight control attempt rate (66.8%) also increased by 12.2 percentage points compared to 2008.

The district has implemented various projects such as children's healthy weight classes and metabolic syndrome management programs to help children grow into healthy adults through obesity prevention programs.

Additionally, the district has expanded exercise and nutrition programs for elderly obesity and continuously promoted obesity prevention projects targeting welfare facilities for the disabled, thereby reducing obesity rates.

For 13 years, the district has conducted a 'Youth Cartoon Contest' as a health awareness improvement project involving residents, and operates the 'Our Neighborhood Tag Team' to eradicate illegal sales of alcohol and tobacco. They have also implemented community mapping projects to share healthy environments and improve harmful ones, and run a 'Visiting Health Experience Center' to provide residents opportunities to take an interest in health.

Considering the high rate of dining out among residents, the district began improving the dietary environment 10 years ago. They introduced the Seocho-gu Healthy Restaurant System, which meets appropriate standards for calories, fat, and sodium, and currently operate 216 healthy restaurants.

Furthermore, the district discourages the sale of high-calorie, low-nutrition foods at school stores and ensures hygiene management to create an environment where students can form healthy eating habits.

The district has also worked to create an environment where residents can make walking a daily habit. They established 58 km of walking courses within the area and installed a 'Donating Health Staircase' at Exit 1 of the Express Bus Terminal Station, where donations increase as people walk up the stairs.

Mayor Eunhee Jo stated, “We will strive even harder to create a healthy city Seocho by operating various programs for obesity prevention and management and creating an environment conducive to increasing physical activity.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.