engleski

Croatian national strategy for obesity prevention

The prevention of obesity (OB) can be primary, secondary and tertiary. The programs of OB prevention may target a selected population at risk, or may be non-selective, addressing the population with sex and age appropriate body mass index (BMI). In Croatia, the program of OB prevention is based on the Action Plan for Prevention and Reduction of Overweight, launched by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of the Republic of Croatia. The program of OB prevention is recommended to be conducted through a coordinated, integrated, comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach. Pediatricians and other healthcare professionals involved in healthcare of the children and adolescents should be additionally sensitized for the wide-spread problem of OB. It is recommended that BMI be calculated at least once a year in the frame of routine anthropometric monitoring of growth and development, to enable timely and objective identification of OB. The program of OB prevention is directed toward continuous immediate and indirect education of the children, parents, day-care center personnel and school teachers, coaches at sports clubs and public in general on the role of healthy dietary habits and daily physical activity, with due consideration of the energy and nutritional requirements at particular stages of growth and development, and of specific requirements of the catchment population. The program of OB prevention implies an active role to be taken by healthcare professionals, from prenatal care of pregnant women through counseling units for healthy preschool children and schoolchildren, in the education and monitoring of OB in children and the setting they are being grown up. The program of OB prevention is coordinated at the local, regional and national level, with financial support from the respective ministries and promotional support from mass media.

overweight; obesity; prevention; children; adolescents; body mass index

nije evidentirano