The role of the school health care system in the prevention of childhood obesity - lessons of a pilot study

Abstract

Childhood obesity is a growing problem with public health significance, so effective prevention is in our public inter-est. Specialists in the school health care system are of paramount importance in the prevention of childhood obesity. In the present study, the institutional framework of the Hungarian school health care system, the scope of tasks and competencies of the professionals, and the recommendations of the World Health Organization in relation to the prevention of obesity are reviewed. On the other hand, we interviewed three school doctors and a school nurse. The interviews showed that although their workload is high and their capacity is finite, in addition to their fixed tasks (such as regular physical examinations and screening of overweight students, grouping of physical education classes, public health tasks), these professionals implement sensitive care for overweight students, support for weight control, often in collaboration with school management. With their creative solutions, exemplary behavior and forward -looking proposals, they highlight the intervention points for optimizing the operation of the school health care sys-tem, with an emphasis on the role of health policy makers.