Two Dutch students, namely Esther Vermeulen and Alisa Bulthuis from Hanzehoge School in Groningen, The Netherlands, are currently assisting Sector Health Care Affairs (SHCA) with the collection of data related to obesity in young children.
Their research has already included the gathering of data from the White & Yellow Cross Baby Clinic of toddler’s 0-4-years of age and a random sample of parents whose children go to a daycare center.
Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than one billion adults being overweight – at least 300 million of them are clinically diagnosed as obese – and it is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability.
Childhood obesity is already epidemic in some areas and on the rise in others. An estimated 22 million children under five are estimated to be overweight worldwide.
Obesity is a complex condition, with serious social and psychological dimensions, affecting all ages and socio-economic groups virtually.
This study has been initiated as a response to the increasing occurrence of overweight among children on the island.
The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity has more than doubled globally in the past 25-years with research showing overweight in 15 per cent of the 2-4-year-olds and this includes 3.7 per cent with obesity in 2007 alone. In the mid 1970s the prevalence of overweight was still five per cent of the 2-5-year-olds.
Overweight and obesity are also serious problems on St. Maarten with 70 per cent of the population being overweight of which 30 per cent is obese. Not only adults on the island suffer from it, many children are also known to have this medical condition.
Results of the "The St. Maarten School Health Program," showed that approximately 14 per cent of five-year-old children and 23 per cent of 10-year-olds are overweight.
The main goal of the study is to discover whether overweight is a problem among 0-4 year-old children on Dutch St. Maarten. This study also aims to identify the relevant internal and external determinants and to use this information to help children achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
In general, an unhealthy lifestyle is an important factor of overweight and obesity and they are assumed to be the results of an increase in caloric and fat intake. Also steady decline in physical activity have been playing major roles in the rising rates of obesity all around the world.
Childhood obesity is associated with a higher chance of premature death and disability in adulthood. Overweight and obese children have a 77 per cent chance of staying obese into adulthood and are more likely to develop non communicable diseases.
Commissioner of Public Health is in full support of the study as it would allow for proper policies being developed to deal with the challenge of childhood obesity.
"This issue is very important. Improper healthy eating is behind the large number of lifestyle related illnesses or non-communicable diseases within out society. Are we sacrificing our health and by extension our lives to satisfy the yearning for tasty foods?
"Parents have a responsibility towards their children and are the number one educators for their children. What you cook at home and how you cook it affects the health of your family and yourself which is observed in your children’s physical and health condition. If it’s unhealthy, then the entire family will also be unhealthy and this reflects on the health of your children.
"I am appealing to our community to sever that love affair with unhealthy foods and become selective in their choice of food and methods of meal preparation. We want to be a healthy nation and that takes a lot of work, but it is well worth it.
"Take responsibility for your health and your children’s health. Chronic non-communicable diseases and childhood obesity are preventable and are chiefly the outcome of harmful choices, which also includes low level of physical activity. During the New Year, make a conscious choice for you and your family. Be healthy," Commissioner of Public Health Maria Buncamper-Molanus told the Government Information Service (GIS).