Health ministry, Unicef pledge to combat child obesity in Greece
Greece and UNICEF on Thursday signed a cooperation agreement to help prevent and combat child obesity on Thursday. The agreement was signed by Minister for Health Thanos Plevris, General Secretary for Public Health Irini Agapidaki, and UNICEF’s Representative in Greece Luciano Calestini.
The health ministry devised the National Action Plan against Childhood Obesity in collaboration with UNICEF that will be implemented on a national, regional and local level as of June.
According to the World Health Organization’s European Regional Obesity Report 2022, Greece ranks third among European countries with overweight and obese children under the age of 5 (a ratio of 1 in 8 children).
The country also ranks second in obesity for the ages 5-9 and first among European countries for obese 10-19 year-olds. Overall, approximately 1 in 3 Greek children is overweight or obese (37.5% and 35%, respectively).
In addition, according to WHO’s European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI), 42% of Greek children aged 7-9 years are either overweight or obese, placing Greece second among 33 countries participating in the study published in 2022.
