Active Healthy Kids Scotland has released The Active Healthy Kids Scotland Report Card 2013 (short form, long form), which is a “state of the nation” report on the physical activity and health of Scottish children and adolescents. The report card was a partnership between the University of Strathclyde (Prof John J Reilly), University of Aberdeen (Prof Geraldine McNeill, Dr Smita Dick), and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Institute (Prof Mark S Tremblay).
An article from BBC News covered the release of the Report Card and provided a brief summary of the grades:
An “F” was awarded for physical activity and an “F-minus” for obesity.
The Active Healthy Kids Scotland Report Card was complied by the universities of Strathclyde and Aberdeen, and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Institute.
It highlighted that levels of obesity among young people are at a record high, with at least 16% of two-to-15 year olds were obese in 2011, with higher rates among more deprived children.
The report also pointed out that only 19% of adolescent boys and 11% of girls, aged 11-to-15 years, met the Scottish, UK and international recommendation of a least 60 minutes per day of at least moderate-intensity physical activity.
An “F” grade was also awarded in the sedentary behaviour category, with 76% 11-to-15 year olds watching more than two hours of television per day – and 77% of boys, and 37% of girls, reporting two hours of gaming every day on top of their TV viewing.
Click here to read the article in full.
The Scottish Report Card will be compared with other national report cards around the world as part of the 2014 Global Summit on the Physical Activity of Children, which will be held in Toronto in May 2014.
