Preventing Obesity In Early Years

16th November 2020

Projects receive funding to promote healthy eating.

Projects working with young families to encourage healthy eating and good nutrition have been awarded a share of more than £600,000 of funding.

Ten initiatives around Scotland are being allocated funding by the Scottish Government, supported by Public Health Scotland, to help prevent and reduce levels of childhood obesity.

Among the initiatives are the Bump and Beyond Buddies scheme in Tayside, which aims to extend its successful peer support infant feeding programme and a pilot scheme in areas of deprivation in Lothian where 120 family workers and early learning childcare practitioners will be trained to support families in community settings in good nutrition.

The funding is part of the Scottish Government's ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce diet-related health inequalities.

Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick said:

"We want children and families to have access to appropriate support to achieve as healthy a weight as possible, no matter where they live and we will continue to support local partners to develop ambitious and effective plans to prevent and reduce childhood obesity.

"We all have a responsibility to work together to help people in Scotland to achieve and maintain a healthy weight and these projects will help address inequalities in obesity between children in our wealthiest and poorest areas.

"As we set out in our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery plan, our ambition is to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce diet-related health inequalities."

Tracy McGillivray OF NHS Lothian's Health Promotion Service said:

"The Childhood Obesity, Early Intervention and Prevention funding will allow NHS Lothian to work closely with our partners in City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian.

"The project will work in areas where families are at increased risk of diet related health inequalities.

“We will be able to provide training to community-based family support staff to have increased knowledge, skills and confidence around the promotion of eating well and ensuring consistent messaging in the importance of establishing good nutrition in the early years."

The Scottish Government published its Diet and Health Weight Delivery Plan in July 2018

The projects awarded funding are -

Ayrshire and Arran

Reduce inequalities in the prevalence of overweight and

obesity in children and young children in Ayrshire

through piloting a new universal group-based

programme in early years centres. The aim of the project

is to provide equitable access to support for achieving

healthy weights for families.

Borders Deliver MAP Health Behaviour Change training to early

years' practitioners and staff working with children and

young people. This includes training on nutrition, oral

health and physical activity and specific skills

professionals can use to support behaviour change.

Dumfries and Galloway

Enhance weaning support through the production and

delivery of educational videos. Enhance early years

practitioners skills and ability to provide physical activity

sessions through supporting SportScotland’s delivery of

a new learning module.

Forth Valley

Pilot a programme of work which seeks to: support

parents living in vulnerable situations to make positive

changes; support organisations working with families

and parents to deliver and promote consistent key

messages and to create community champions as a

support mechanism for other families.

Glasgow

Pilot a whole system, community food nurturing

programme with families of pre-school children

combining action on food insecurity, healthy eating and

physical activity in three Glasgow neighbourhoods.

Lanarkshire

Working with local partners to develop a joined up and

integrated service model to deliver nutrition and physical

activity interventions. The project has a particular focus

on vulnerable groups/families and new and young

parents deemed to be struggling to engage with

mainstream services.

Lothian

Pilot an evidence based training package (HENRY) with

family workers/early learning childcare practitioners,

across the 4 local authority areas. This brings together

support for parenting efficacy, family emotional wellbeing

and behaviour change with information about nutrition,

physical activity, oral health and more.

Shetland

Pilot ‘HENRY’, an evidence based training package, with

early years’ practitioners. This brings together support

for parenting efficacy, family emotional wellbeing and

behaviour change with information about nutrition,

physical activity, oral health and more. Staff with a

specific remit for diet and healthy weight in the early

years will be trained as group practitioners, and frontline

delivery partners will be supported to increase

confidence and skills in health behaviours. The

programme will focus on engaging with families at risk of

diet-related health inequalities.

Tayside

Establish a localised, sustainable and long term systems

change for child healthy weight in each of the three

Community Planning Partnership areas in Tayside i.e.

Dundee city, Perth & Kinross, and Angus.

Western Isles

Pilot an evidence based training package (HENRY) with

early years practitioners. This brings together support for

parenting efficacy, family emotional wellbeing and

behaviour change with information about nutrition,

physical activity and oral health to ensure a consistent

approach across the islands. The proposal includes

funding for devices and mobile internet access to better

support families who would otherwise be unable to

engage in the programme.