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Australian Health Ministers endorse childhood obesity initiatives

Australian Health Ministers have endorsed a package of national initiatives to improve healthy eating and physical activity amongst children, young people and their families.

29 July 2004

Joint Communique

Australian Health Ministers endorse childhood obesity initiatives

Australian Health Ministers, meeting in Hobart today, endorsed a package of national initiatives to improve healthy eating and physical activity amongst children, young people and their families.

These initiatives are consistent with State and Territory plans and activities already underway to tackle obesity and overweight.

The package includes:

• New Physical Activity recommendations for Children and Youth:


1. Children and youth should participate in at least 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous- intensity physical activity every day.


2. Children and youth should not spend more than 2 hours per day using electronic media for entertainment (eg computer games, Internet, TV), particularly during daylight hours.
• Physical Activity guidelines for Adults, which are being redesigned to complement the new children's recommendations.


• A schools resource kit to promote healthy eating and physical activity in Australian schools. The kit presents examples of quality practice in Australian schools and includes principles, strategies and ideas for schools interested in designing and implementing good practice healthy eating and physical activity programs.


A copy of the kit is available on the following website www.healthyactive.gov.au.


• A national information programme to promote increased consumption of fruit and vegetables.


• The promotion of Healthy School Canteens to ensure that canteens provide children with healthy eating choices. Ministers affirmed the important role of school canteens in promoting healthy eating among children, and agree to instruct the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council to work with the education sector and industry groups to promote healthy school canteens.


• The establishment of a network of Whole-of-Community Healthy Weight Demonstration Sites to identify practical ways to address both environmental and social barriers to physical activity and healthy eating across a number of settings; and


• A review of the evidence for actions to reduce obesity in adults and older Australians.

Ministers agreed that this package of initiatives represents a major step forward by the health sector in the implementation of the National Obesity Taskforce report, Healthy Weight 2008 - Australia's Future - A National Action Agenda for Young People and their Families, which was released by Ministers in November 2003.

The release of these initiatives also complements the Prime Minister's Building a Healthy, Active Australia initiative announced on 29 June.

The National Obesity Taskforce was established by Australian Health Ministers in November 2002 to address the problem of growing overweight and obesity levels.

According to recent figures, 66% of Australian men and 47% of Australian women aged 25 to 64 years are overweight or obese.

Around 20-25% of Australian children aged 2 to 17 years are overweight or obese, double the prevalence recorded in 1986.
Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for chronic diseases including diabetes, heart attack, stroke and some cancers.

Media Contact: Stewart Prins, Minister Llewellyn's office, 0419 339 262
Kay McNiece, AHMC Secretariat 0412 132 585