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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-10-13 Daily Xml
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CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Ms SIMMONS (Morialta) (15:46): I have been very privileged this year to meet with Monsieur Christophe Roy who is the director of EPODE and coordinator of the EPODE program throughout Europe. As a member of the Social Development Committee of the Parliament of South Australia who participated in the inquiry into childhood obesity, it was really interesting to discuss with him the origins of this program and how we might be able to introduce this to South Australia.

EPODE is a school-based nutrition information program initiated in 1992 in France, initially in two towns in the north—Fleurbaix and Laventie. The point of the program is that it is not just a school-based program but encourages the whole community in supporting children to make good choices themselves around food consumption. This includes the family but also the local shops, eating outlets and even the local council.

Dr Roy emphasised that EPODE has recognised nearly 20 years ago that childhood obesity was a serious public health concern that needed a concerted national effort to rectify, and I think Australia has been behind the eight ball in that and is suffering from only recent recognition of the epidemic that we now have. In France, it was recognised that the solution would be long-term but that, by targeting this population group, it has been possible to reverse the trend towards an increasingly overweight population by actions at the community level.

It has been highlighted that children in particular from lower socioeconomic groups are more prone to obesity. Whether that is the case in Australia, I actually question, but it is something that we obviously need to look at. The EPODE program does depend on mandatory health screening in schools with the weight and height of each child between five and 12 years being recorded annually and the BSI being calculated.

The knowledge-oriented approach has been successful at improving children's own knowledge of the characteristics of foods and nutrients, healthy eating habits and food-processing and also gets them to look at the labelling on food packaging. It is being implemented throughout the teaching syllabus. The teachers need to be trained by qualified nutritionists and dieticians and the curriculum is controlled by the regional board of education.

The classroom curriculum is supported by a range of practical crosscutting initiatives. The practical approach provokes pleasant, affordable and diversified food discovery meals in the school cafeterias, cooking classes, visits to farms and various food shops and family breakfasts.

In 2003, a health check was offered at home to supplement this program to families of children involved in the program. This included a fasting blood sample, a clinical examination and a questionnaire aimed at screening unhealthy habits such as smoking, physical inactivity and alcohol consumption. Following this, families were offered advice on healthy eating and physical activity and referrals to a GP for those identified as being overweight, having high blood pressure, a high level of sedentary behaviour, unhealthy eating habits, hyperlipidaemia and smokers.

It was found that from about 1999 onwards the community at large became increasingly committed to this EPODE program. Dieticians were employed to perform interventions in schools and hosted meetings in the towns for both children and adults. Town councils supported actions in favour of physical activity, new sporting facilities were built and sports educators were employed by the councils to promote physical activity in school and outside.

Walking to school days were organised, as were family activities. Various other local stakeholders such as GPs, pharmacists, shopkeepers, sporting and cultural associations also set up family activities focusing on a healthy lifestyle. Media involvement and positive press coverage has also been seen as crucial to the success of this program. The long-term results have shown that children living in communities involved in the program significantly buck the trend against the prevalence of overweight children in France and in the other European countries that have adopted EPODE.

Time expired.

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