Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives
Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives is the £32m strategy launched from the Department of Health in January 2008 by Health Secretary, Alan Johnson and the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls. The cross-government strategy has the stated aim of tackling the dramatic rise in obesity in UK children; and by 2020 reducing the proportion of obese children in the UK to 2000 levels.
According to the Department of Health website, “It will bring together employers, individuals and communities to promote children's health and healthy food; build physical activity into our lives; support health at work; and provide incentives more widely to promote health. It will also provide effective treatment and support when people become overweight or obese.”[1]
The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson comments, “physical activity, healthy eating, balanced marketing and promotion of food to children and clear and consistent food labelling are all key components in beating the obesity time bomb."[2]
The Change4Life campaign is the marketing tool launched by the Department of Health which is declared to promote the participation of children and parents together in a healthier lifestyle; as opposed to the government's direct involvement in telling them what to do.[3]
Notes
- ↑ Department of Health website Government announces first steps in strategy to help people maintain healthy weight and live healthier lives, DH 23 January 2008, accessed 11th February 2009
- ↑ Department of Health website Government announces first steps in strategy to help people maintain healthy weight and live healthier lives, DH 23 January 2008, accessed 11th February 2009
- ↑ Department of Health website Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: Consumer Insight Summary, DH 10 November 2007, accessed 11th February 2009
