Strategies to tackle childhood obesity: A comparison of the UK and Portugal

Abstract

Childhood obesity is a major public health crisis, contributing to major health issues around the world. The need for nutritional standards in schools is not a new phenomenon due to the increase in prevalence and the concern with respect to the health and well-being of the child. In both the United Kingdom and in Portugal, it was only from the early 2000s that childhood obesity had reached such a preoccupying level that the state, through both education and public health interventions, introduced a number of policies to attempt to resolve this health crisis. This project will use an institutional approach to understand the differences in strategies between the UK and Portugal in tackling childhood obesity. It will reflect on the impacts of the challenges which may affect future policies, such as junk food providers in the school vicinity and by doing so, acknowledge environmental and social influences affecting food choice and contemplate whether educational interventions alone offer a way to tackle the growing problem of childhood obesity. This analysis aims to contribute to the discussion on the similarities and differences on the evolution of educational systems and their policies and the comparison aims to gives an insight to how they can improve