'Healthy Care Playgrounds' to Prevent Childhood Obesity... Higher Participation Increases Prevention Rate

[Asia Economy Reporter Byeon Seon-jin] It has been found that children who participate more in the program 'Healthy Care Playground,' which prevents childhood obesity, experience greater effects in obesity prevention. On the 23rd, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Promotion Institute announced the results of last year's operation of the 'Healthy Care Playground,' established to prevent childhood obesity, stating that there were effects such as a decrease in obesity rates among participating children, improvement in dietary habits, and an increase in physical activity.

According to last year's results, the rate of obese and overweight children decreased by about 2.8 percentage points from 33.3% to 30.5% after participation. In particular, among children who participated 12 times or more, the rate of obese and overweight children decreased by about 4.4 percentage points from 35.6% to 31.2%, showing a greater reduction. The percentage of children exercising for more than one hour a day increased by 6.9 percentage points, and the percentage of children with more than one hour of screen time on smartphones, computers, etc., decreased by 5.9 percentage points, indicating effectiveness in promoting physical activity.

Dietary habits also improved. The score reflecting healthy dietary behaviors such as consumption of vegetables, fruits, dairy products, and healthy snacks increased by 5.3 points from 75.5 to 80.8. 97.0% of participating children responded that they were satisfied with the Healthy Care Playground, and 90.2% said it helped improve their health.

Josin-haeng, Director of Health Promotion at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, “Through the 2nd National Obesity Management Comprehensive Plan, we plan to expand the advanced Healthy School Playground program nationwide to strengthen projects for preventing obesity among children and adolescents.” Cho Hyun-jang, President of the Korea Health Promotion Institute, said, “Since we developed video educational materials for the Healthy Care Playground earlier this year to support non-face-to-face projects, we expect an increase in local health care institutions participating in childhood obesity prevention projects.”

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