What Are the Gangdong-gu Policies That Lower Child Obesity Rates?

Gangdong-gu’s Efforts to Create an Environment for Students’ Healthy Lifestyle Practices Lead to Decreased Obesity Rates

Continuous Efforts of Gangdong-type Child Obesity Prevention Project Contribute to Children’s Health Promotion

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] According to the Ministry of Education’s ‘2021 Student Health Examination Sample Statistics’ released last November, the proportion of overweight and obese children and adolescents attending elementary, middle, and high schools increased from 25.8% before COVID-19 in 2019 to 30.8%. Since about 80% of childhood and adolescent obesity is likely to lead to adult obesity, establishing a foundation for health management during the period when lifestyle habits are formed is important.

Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Su-hee) is promoting various child obesity prevention projects for the health of children.

Earlier, recognizing the seriousness of child and adolescent obesity early in 2017, the district became the first in Seoul to enact the ‘Seoul Special City Gangdong-gu Child Obesity Prevention Project Basic Ordinance’ and has continuously operated child obesity prevention projects even during COVID-19, implementing proactive prevention policies.

Gangdong-gu Creates School Environments to Encourage Children’s Healthy Lifestyle Practices

The district operated ‘Moving Classrooms, Healthy Schools’ within schools, which are learning and growth spaces for students. To enhance activity both in classrooms and at home, they ran the ‘Moving Class Timetable Campaign,’ supported lesson plans for ‘Moving Classes,’ installed game zones, and provided standing desks, balance cushions, and physical activity tools to foster an environment that promotes physical activity.

In addition, in consultation with nutrition teachers, they conducted obesity prevention meal campaigns and distributed both face-to-face experiential education and non-face-to-face video educational materials. For those interested, 1:1 online individual coaching was provided through a mobile app, offering feedback on meal diaries and exercise counseling.

Recognizing these efforts, the district was selected as a meritorious institution for ‘Obesity Prevention Day’ in 2022 and received a commendation from the Minister of Health and Welfare. Last year, the ‘Physical Activity Practice Rate’ improved by more than 19.9 percentage points compared to the Ministry of Education average, and the ‘Daily Vegetable Intake Rate,’ which was lower than the Ministry of Education average before project participation, increased by more than 5.12 percentage points.

Moreover, the district operated ‘Healthy Care Playgrounds’ targeting children using after-school care classrooms at three local elementary schools and seven regional children’s centers to prevent obesity among vulnerable children. They conducted a ‘Play-based Nutrition Program’ educating on the importance of healthy eating through play, experience, and practice activities, and a ‘Play-based Physical Activity Program’ to establish habits of physical activity through various play activities.

Diversification and Enhancement of Expertise in Child Obesity Prevention Projects through Expert Consultation and Focused Management of High-Risk Groups

Going forward, the district plans to operate a ‘basic core program’ applicable to all schools and a ‘specialized program’ tailored for students in special schools to ensure project sustainability.

For students in special schools, they will run an ‘After-school Health Class’ including special physical education for obesity management and support health education on child obesity management for students, parents, and special education practitioners. To tailor health management for special schools, the district will actively gather field opinions and appoint external experts related to special education as advisory members of the Gangdong-gu Child Obesity Prevention Committee to further strengthen expertise.

Additionally, the district will expand the existing program, which was conducted for elementary students, to include middle school students this year for those who wish to participate. They will provide health management kits such as body composition analysis scales and physical activity tools, and offer ‘individualized health coaching’ based online 1:1 personalized health coaching.

Lee Su-hee, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, stated, “We will continue to do our best to ensure children grow up healthy by strengthening the Gangdong-type child obesity prevention project through systematic and diverse program operation and support measures.”

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