One in seven children in the Netherlands has overweight. Together with municipalities, VU Amsterdam researcher Jutka Halberstadt developed a national model to better align support and care for children living with obesity according the needs of the children themselves, their parents and healthcare professionals.
Overweight and obesity have increased significantly in recent decades. This often has major consequences for their physical health and psychosocial wellbeing, while circumstances such as divorce, illness or poverty can make it difficult to implement and sustain lifestyle changes. These children need adequate support and care provided by healthcare professionals who help to improve health, quality of life and societal participation of the children.
Jutka Halberstadt, previous national project manager of Care for Obesity and assistant professor of childhood obesity at VU Amsterdam, developed a National model to improve the support and care for children with overweight and obesity. She did this within the Care for Obesity programme in collaboration with several municipalities, which later developed as the network approach 'Child to Healthier Weight' (Kind naar Gezonder Gewicht). They are working together with the youth healthcare sector to ensure that adequate support and care is available to all children with overweight and obesity in all municipalities in the Netherlands by 2030.
Jutka Halberstadt: “It’s about promoting children’s health and quality of life and reducing socioeconomic health inequalities."
