Jun 17 2010
New Childhood and Families Taskforce must prioritise childhood obesity, says MEND
Harry MacMillan, Chief Executive of MEND, a social enterprise that provides free afterschool healthy lifestyle programmes for families, comments on the announcement of the new Childhood and Families Taskforce. He says:
“We welcome the announcement of a new Childhood and Families Taskforce, especially its focus on reducing health inequalities and improving the life chances for families living in poorer communities.
“For the new government to achieve its vision of all children having a content and carefree childhood, improving the health of our nation’s children is vital, with childhood obesity being a top priority.
“We echo Nick Clegg’s words that “healthy children matter more than anything else” and with childhood obesity being the biggest threat to the health of children living in the UK, we look forward to hearing about the government’s plans to tackle childhood obesity.
“By channelling existing funding into proven initiatives such as MEND’s community-based healthy lifestyle programmes for families and equipping families with the information and support they need to make healthier choices, the new government can reverse current obesity trends within current funding constraints.”
-ends-
Notes to Editor:
For media enquiries regarding MEND please contact: Lucy Hannagan on 020 7231 7225 or lucy.hannagan@mendcentral.org. For out-of-hours enquiries please call 07872 506996.
About MEND
· MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition...Do it!) is a social enterprise that runs free healthy lifestyle programmes for two – 13 year olds and their families
· The MEND Programme was devised by Great Ormond Street Hospital and the University College London’s Institute of Child Health
· The MEND Programme is run in over 350 sites across the UK per term and has helped over 17,000 families
· MEND’s healthy lifestyle programmes are developed and tested by obesity specialists for delivery by a range of public and private sector partners.
· MEND is a National Third Sector Partner of the Department of Health’s Change4Life campaign.
