The Scottish Government has announced that over £500,000 will be awarded to a series of NHS projects that tackle childhood obesity and the associated health inequalities.
The £538,141 investment is part of Scotland’s move to ensure all children get the best start to life and support the country’s ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030.
The NHS projects benefitting from the funding include:
- NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s JumpStart Tots programme – £76,828
- NHS Dumfries & Galloway’s whole system approach with a focus on early years – £11,400
- Upskilling at NHS Grampian to deliver the Grow Well Choices Early Years programme – £15,000
- The Thrive Under Five programme at NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde – £66,000
- NHS Lanarkshire’s Little n Lively initiative – £141,492
- The Eat Well Pay Well programme at NHS Tayside – £49,263
A substantial amount of funding has been ringfenced for the delivery of the HENRY approach. The HENRY approach focuses on nutritional, physical, and oral health support.
“We want Scotland to be the best place in the world for a child…”
NHS Grampian has received a further £15,000 to train multi-agency professionals in Aberdeenshire to help the delivery of the HENRY approach.
For the continued delivery of HENRY core training for the early years workforce, NHS Lothian has been given £96,400 while NHS Fife has received £19,300.
NHS Orkney will benefit from £24,058 to train and support practitioners to deliver the HENRY approach – NHS Shetland has been awarded £23,400 for the same thing.
Jenni Minto, public health minister, said: “We want Scotland to be the best place in the world for a child to grow up, and these early years projects are crucial to our bold ambition of halving childhood obesity by 2030.
“These ambitious and effective projects will also help tackle inequalities by working with families and communities to encourage healthy eating and offering support for those experiencing food insecurity.”
The announcement comes on world obesity day 2024.
Image credit: iStock
