How healthy are South Africa’s kids?

In 2014, Discovery Vitality released the Healthy Active Kids South Africa (HAKSA) report. The report highlights the state of South African children’s health in areas like physical activity, healthy eating, and maintaining a healthy weight. The report reviews various factors that influence children’s health status, from how much they play and how much TV they watch to their school environment. Healthy Active Kids is an international initiative that began in Canada because of a growing, international recognition that obesity and unhealthy behaviours are negatively affecting children’s health.

South Africa’s overall grade is a D. Although our grade fell from a C- in 2010 and various risk factors remain unacceptably high, this grade is fairly consistent with those from other countries in which the same survey was conducted.

Canada

The country in which HAK began, Canada, scored an overall grade of only D-. While their grade for organised sports participation was in the top three at C+, their government strategies and investments grade is a C, compared with South Africa’s B. This indicates that our government recognises and is implementing strategies for improving child health.

England

England’s overall grade is C/D. This grade is better than South Africa’s and key areas demonstrate this. For instance, England’s grade for how conducive the school environment is to health is an A-, the top score in the category. This, when compared with South Africa’s grade of D, demonstrates the importance of the school environment nurturing good health in children.

Ireland

Ireland’s overall score was D-, the same as Canada’s. One category in which Ireland scored significantly higher than South Africa is that of sedentary behaviours. Ireland earned a grade of C-, compared with South Africa’s F. In South Africa, children between the ages of 10 and 17 watch an average of three hours of television a day. This amount increases to three and a half hours over weekends.

United States

The United States’ score is D-. One of the areas in which the United States scored very low was active transport, for which they got an F compared with South Africa’s C. In South Africa, even though safety is a concern for children walking to school, 68% of them do. Importantly, it showed most of these children are from lower-income families.

New Zealand

New Zealand scored the highest overall grade in this group of countries, with a B. Their scores for overall physical activity (B), organised sports participation (B), active play (B) and healthy school environments (B-) mean this is a country from which lessons can be learned.

Australia

Finally, Australia scored an overall grade of D-. While Australia’s organised sports participation grade (B-), family and peer support grade (C), and community and built environment grade (A-) were very good, their score was dragged down by other factors. For instance, their overall physical activity score was lower than South Africa’s D; they scored a D-. They also scored lower on active transportation (D) and government strategies and investments (C+).

Overall, there is much to be learned from the successes of other countries. Of particular concern is the amount of time of South African children are inactive. The school environment is also of concern, one which the Discovery Vitality Schools Programme is addressing by providing free tools and support to help make school environments healthier. The HAKSA project, as it advances, allows us to learn from successful interventions around the globe in an effort to improve the health and wellbeing of our nation’s children.

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