“What we’re hoping to do is to inform and uplift the efforts that people in the community are already doing.”
Jonathan Fuller is a Public Health Educator at the Kent County Health Department. He says the Childhood Obesity Surveillance Report is based on a six-year study that includes data from Corewell Health well-child visits.
“So, one of the things that stood out and made us want to look at this a little bit closer is that there wasn’t any local data that was already available.”
One of the key findings is that 40% of Kent County children aged 4 to 17 years are considered overweight or obese. That’s higher than the statewide average of 32.6% and the national average of 31.3%.
“But, within that obese category, 86% of those kids were in obesity class one, so they’re just over the line from overweight to obese, so that, to me, gives a real opportunity for us to turn the tide with some of this.”
Fuller says next steps for the county include continuing to study the problem, encouraging communities to support healthy eating and exercise, and supporting best practices.
You can read the full report here.
For a weekly dose of news right to your inbox, sign up for the WGVU newsletter.
