Campbelltown City Council and the South Western Sydney Local Health District have joined forces on a research project which aims to reduce the rates of childhood obesity in Campbelltown.
The project and the action plan were officially launched at Bradbury Oval on Wednesday by Amanda Larkin, chief executive of the South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD), and Cr Margaret Chivers on behalf of Campbelltown Council.
The Campbelltown – Changing Our Future research project is an initiative of Growing Healthy Kids in South West Sydney – the South Western Sydney Local Health District Childhood Overweight and Obesity Prevention and Management Action Plan 2017-2025.
The focus on childhood obesity is in response to the Premier’s Priority to tackle childhood obesity, with the target of reducing childhood overweight and obesity rates by five per cent by 2025.
The action plan provides overall direction and guidance for a local response to childhood overweight and obesity, and includes trialling the Campbelltown – Changing Our Future research project which uses systems mapping to identify the specific local factors that contribute to childhood overweight and obesity, and a collective impact model to drive local action.
The project has produced promising results in rural Victoria.
Campbelltown City will be the first community in NSW to trial the project, translating the approach into an urban setting.
Mandy Williams, South Western Sydney Local Health District director of health promotion, said the action plan brought together health, council, education and other key partners to facilitate change for children and young people in Campbelltown.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“More than one in five children in NSW are overweight or obese, and rates are even higher in areas in communities such as ours, with culturally and linguistically diverse populations, refugees, Aboriginal communities and vulnerable families,” she said.[/social_quote]
“Growing Healthy Kids places us at the forefront of developing new, locally relevant, community-based initiatives to complement state-wide efforts, and we look forward to working with council on a range of local strategies.”
To find out more about services, programs and activities for children in Campbelltown visit campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/growinghealthykids
