Assessment of the public pool of funds for preventive measures aimed at overweight children and young people

The Danish Government and the parties behind the public pool of funds have earmarked funding for preventive measures aimed at children and young people for the period 2012-2015. The objective has been to identify children and young people at risk of obesity at an early age and target measures at this group. The funding led to realisation of nine model projects in several municipalities. The report describes the results of the assessment of the nine projects.
Measures include parent involvement as well as follow-up, and focus on both physical and mental health, i.e. the children and youths’ wellbeing and self-esteem are central issues. The assessment report focuses on these elements in particular.
Overall, the results indicate that focusing on psychosocial conditions, parent involvement and follow-up has had an effect, and that this effect is maintained even after the programme has come to an end.
The projects show the best results with regard to boosting the self-esteem of the youths. This has also led to increased quality of life for the group in question. Another positive result was that the youths were less overweight and felt healthier.
The assessment was financed by funding from the public pool of funds “Preventive measures for overweight children and young people” and has been published in collaboration with the Danish Health and Medicines Authority.