TEHRAN –Due to the prevalence of obesity among school-aged children, the ministries of health and education are planning to make screening children for obesity and short stature mandatory.

“Just like the vaccination program for students which is compulsory upon entering school, screening for obesity and shortness will be required,” ISNA quoted Ahmad Eslamzadeh, an official with the health ministry, as saying.

Pointing out that childhood obesity is a serious problem, he stated, “the ministry of health in collaboration with the ministry of education is planning to launch a program to identify obese children and refer them to healthcare centers.”

Eslamzadeh went on to say that nutrition training and counseling for these children and their parents are being provided regularly by nutrition experts. Based on reached agreements with the ministry of education, messages on healthy nutrition will be sent to these children via educational applications every day.

Also, there is a program to control healthy eating at schools, he added.

Moreover, to educate families, an application is designed that allows parents to check their child's intake of calories. By checking their consumed food, parents can control their child's diet.

National health campaign

The first phase of the campaign started in November 2023. Aiming to reduce deaths caused by non-communicable diseases, the campaign with the theme of "earlier awareness, better care" ended on January 20. 

The main objective of the campaign was to provide free health care for diabetic and hypertensive patients in the framework of the family physician program and to create an electronic health file for patients.

Since diabetes and high blood pressure are the main causes of non-communicable diseases and are directly affected by one’s diet, the second phase of the national health campaign focuses on healthy diets.

A total of 45,556,830 people, 72 percent of the target population, took part in the first phase of the national health campaign aiming to be screened for high blood pressure and diabetes, Fars news agency quoted Farshid Hosseini, an official with the ministry of health, as saying.

Out of the screened people, 22 percent that is 10 million were identified with probable hypertension, he added.

These people do not need to take medicine; they can simply prevent high blood pressure and its severe consequences by observing and improving their diet, reducing salt consumption, and working out, Hosseini added.

He went on to say that people diagnosed with high blood pressure and diabetes in this survey are 10 years and 5 years younger respectively than those in the past.

The identified patients will be checked every month or every three months by healthcare workers and doctors. Within the first 3 to 6 weeks, their treatment is non-pharmaceutical, then medicines will be prescribed if needed, Hosseini added.

Part of the second phase of the national campaign will provide nutritional counseling to patients identified in the national health campaign with (probable) diabetes and high blood pressure, and the other part focuses on training in a healthy diet, such as avoiding the consumption of fatty, salty, sweet, and fast.

Salt is the subject of the first week of the campaign, from January 21 to 27, with the theme of ‘Everyone’s choice: little but refined iodized salt’.

Dairy is the subject and theme of the second week, from January 28 to February 4, with the theme of ‘From childhood to old age, consume healthy dairy products.’

On January 19, Health Minister Bahram Einollahi said the implementation of the national health campaign for the population under 18 years of age is on the agenda.

“It is necessary to improve healthcare for the prevention of diseases by conducting nationwide screenings through the early diagnosis of illnesses,” Mehr news agency quoted Einollahi as saying.

“Currently, the majority of the country's population lives in urban areas. Besides strengthening health services and infrastructure, the family physician program has to be followed up seriously,” he added.

Emphasizing the importance of paying attention to children's health as the nation’s future assets, Einollahi called for the implementation of a nationwide screening for those under 18 years old regarding prevalent diseases as well as risk factors and main causes of health problems.

MT/MG