This paper analyses the issue of childhood obesity within an economic policy framework. It also reviews the evidence of trends in obesity in children and provides an overview of recent and planned childhood obesity preventative health programs.

Overweight/obesity during childhood is a major public health issue with more than 200,000 Australian children between 2-18 years now obese (Booth et al, 2003). It has significant health implications across the life span. This Policy brief reviews the effectiveness of prevention and intervention strategies and highlights the importance of adopting a multi-faceted approach to decrease...

Body Mass Index (BMI) has been used for many years with adults to assess overweight and obesity. However, overweight and obesity is not only a problem for adults. An estimated 20-25% of children and adolescents in Australia are overweight and a quarter of this group are obese. Being overweight or obese has a negative impact...

Some parents are concerned about whether their child is ready to start school and they start to seek advice from a range of professionals to support them in making a decision. Often the preschool or kindergarten teacher may raise concerns with the parents, because of observations of the child while in this setting. For the...