Free fresh fruit for SkolaSajf children

More than 500 Gozitan boys and girls aged between six and 11 who attend SkolaSajf were offered fresh fruit for free.

The initiative was part of a campaign launched by the Health Secretariat and the ministries for education and Gozo to encourage children to eat more fresh fruit. More fruit will continue to be distributed in local schools during Skolasajf.

The campaign also aims to prompt families to be more conscious about what their children are eating.

The European Commission recently proposed a Europe-wide scheme to provide fruit to schoolchildren. European funds to the tune of €90 million every year would pay for the purchase and distribution of fresh fruit and vegetables to schools.

The proposal was made because an estimated 22 million children in the EU are overweight. More than five million of these are obese and this figure is expected to rise by 400,000 every year. Improved nutrition can play an important part in combating this problem.

The initiative in Maltese schools is the result of collaboration between the Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and SkolaSajf, a summer programme for children run by the Education Division.