The weight and height of all primary and secondary schoolchildren nationwide will be measured nationwide in an exercise to be embarked upon in September to find the national child body mass index.
A total of 46,000 students from 2,300 classrooms will be measured. Their schoolbags will also be weighed and some will be asked to fill in a questionnaire which will include questions about whether they thought their bag was heavy and if they suffered from back pain.
Malta is the first country to embark on such a project. A pilot project is already underway.
Speaking during the launch of the exercise this morning, consultant pediatrician Victor Grech said statistics so far showed that between a third and a fourth of children were overweight or obese from very young age. So the education and health authorities, with the collaboration of the Association of Physiotherapists, came together to measure all school children.
Frank Fabri, director general operations within the Education Department, said they survey would be carried out on an anonymous basis and no particular data would not be attached to particular students. Parent permission would also be sought.
The exercise, he said, would enable prevention since if there was a child with particular problems, the health authorities could intervene to guide that child.
Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said the success of this survey would not be measured by the data gathered but by what could be achieved with that data.
“We have to have the courage to take certain decisions…. As from September, government schools can only give water to children, no soft drinks, no juices... This will be enforced and monitored,” he said adding that a large portion of sugar intake in children came from soft drinks.
Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said the survey would allow the government to make changes at policy level on a scientific basis.
This was not the only government initiative to address the problem of obesity, he said, mentioning as examples the national food consumption survey, which is ongoing, and lunchbox campaign.