Child & Youth Growth Index – BCMA Feasibility Study

Today, obesity is a major public health concern, and despite BC’s healthy reputation we are not immune. For children, the trend is especially troubling.

• In 2004, the Canadian Community Health Survey estimated that 26% of BC children between the ages of 2 and 17 are overweight or obese.
• Obesity is estimated to cost BC’s health care system between $730 million and $830 million annually.
• In 2003, only 58 per cent of British Columbians were physically or moderately active.

Despite this challenge, BC actually has very little data that can be used to compare schools and districts or evaluate exercise and healthy eating programs designed to address this problem. The Doctors of BC is calling on the provincial government to implement a Child & Youth Growth Index (CYGI) in order to be able to monitor, measure and evaluate the current obesity epidemic in young people. In BC, the index would track the level of childhood obesity throughout the province by anonymously measuring student body mass index (BMI) from all public schools annually. This would enable the province to compare and evaluate programs on a district and regional basis.

For the full policy paper, please see “Child & Youth Growth Index – BCMA Feasibility Study”.