Read the Healthy Weight Needs Assessment
Obesity has overtaken smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the UK and is now one of the biggest contributors to inequalities in the health of the population.
In Islington, 50% of adults are living with overweight or obesity. The prevalence of childhood obesity is also high with 21% of children in reception and 37% of children in year 6 living with overweight or obesity. These averages mask large health inequalities with those from more deprived households and of Black ethnicity disproportionately affected in Islington.
Common perceptions of excess weight often focus on individual diet and lifestyle choices, however, the causes of obesity are multi-factorial and complex, with a range of biological, psychological, social, economic and environmental influences. Ignoring the wider environmental factors puts blame on the individual and contributes to weight stigma. Weight stigma has been shown to lead to negative health impacts including increased stress, depression, anxiety, disordered eating behaviours, and even weight gain.
We recognise that Islington has numerous strengths, including strong breastfeeding rates and support services; a universal free school meal provision in primary schools, supported by a catering contract with enhanced food standards; and high levels of active travel, encouraged by the council’s low traffic neighbourhood and liveable neighbourhood programmes. Additionally, we highlight areas for improvement, such as the high concentration of hot food takeaways, concentrated in areas of greatest deprivation; a lack of targeted services for the secondary school age group; and a gap in weight stigma training for professionals.
Our Healthy Weight Programme aims to increase physical activity and healthy eating across our population, with a focus on our most vulnerable residents, and to encourage healthy relationships with physical activity food and body image. Our 8 principles set out Islington’s commitment to supporting healthy weight and inform our approach to this work. We invite partners and local organisations to review their approaches and take steps to align them with these principles. As our programme develops you can view updates here.