PHAC Advice to the Minister of Health on the Obesity Inquiry

Publications
PHAC Advice to the Minister of Health on the Obesity Inquiry

Date of publication: May 2006

Summary
Publication availability

Summary
This report provides advice about obesity prevention and reversal from the Public Health Advisory Committee (PHAC). The Minister passed the advice to the Health Select Committee inquiry on obesity. It is a paper to the Minister of Health, rather than a published document.

In 2006, an inquiry was held into Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes by a Parliamentary Health Select Committee. The closing date for submissions was April 26, 2006.

This report from PHAC noted that the incidence of obesity in New Zealand had doubled over the past 25 years. Weight gain is caused by excess energy intake (energy-dense foods) and, increasingly, lowered energy output (exercise). Obesity is creating a health crisis in New Zealand as overseas. The effects of the crisis are devastating for sufferers and their families, severely inequitable, and potentially crippling to the public health system. The overweight population was an even larger group, within which successful intervention could bring the greatest gains by preventing some of New Zealand’s top causes of mortality.

Specific recommendations in the paper were that:

An obesity control strategy be oriented as much toward increasing population physical activity as toward achieving healthier nutrition
A comprehensive, whole-of-government, whole-society approach to obesity prevention and reversal be established
Initiatives focus on supportive environments for daily living rather than solely on the health education of individuals
Health Impact Assessment (HIA) be recognised as a useful tool to ensure urban design encourages physical activity as a supported and expected part of daily life.

PHAC proposed the following goals be adopted:

To create an environment where personal and community-wide physical activity is a supported and expected part of daily life.
To create an environment where healthful nutrition sources are available and affordable to all and energy-dense foods are not prominent.

Publication availability
This publication is available in Word and PDF format below:

Health Report: Advice on Obesity Inquiry (Word, 198 KB)
Health Report: Advice on Obesity Inquiry (PDF, 112 KB)

Go to information about downloading publications