For the third successive year, the Walkers Foundation has supported the Childrens Health Task Force, Health4Youth Program with a grant of $30,000.00.   The Walkers Foundation has been the premium sponsor of this program from its inception in 2009.

The Health4Youth program started in 2009 as a pilot project at the Clifton Hunter and John Gray schools, initiated by the Children’s Health Task Force which is a multidisciplinary team made of various volunteers and healthcare professions (both H.S.A. & private) to deal with the dramatic rise in the number of Cayman’s youth who are either obese or at risk of becoming obese.  This remains a serious and acute problem in Cayman.  In 2011, of the 326 students in these schools who were measured, 30.49% were above the 95th percentile and 51% were above the 85th percentile in Body Mass Index (BMI). The program consists of medical checks, group nutrition classes, afterschool physical activities, counselling carried out by doctors, dieticians, PE trainers and counsellors.

The program also identified the morbidly obese children and appropriate referrals were made to medical professionals for early intervention.  One of the most successful achievements of the group was its successful lobbying to introduce a new food policy for the school canteens to adhere to.  The new food policy was implemented in the public schools in September 2010 to ensure that healthy lunches and snacks are offered.

The project is now in the third and final year of its pilot study period and has been tracking a group of children who were in year 7 in 2009, when the program started.  As a result of the findings to date, the project has been expanded and much needed funding received from Walkers Foundation will be used to fund:

• The education of pregnant women, young mothers, pre & primary school students on eating healthy and being active.
• Providing education materials and facilitating the training of parents, teachers, pre-school teachers and caregivers.
• Biannual screening of children in the public schools with expanded medical screening and checkups for students identified as being at risk.

Dr Sook Yin, co-chair of the Project and a Director of the Cayman Heart Fund thanks the administrators of Walkers Foundation for their faith and continued support of the program.

“Thanks to their funding and that of the other sponsors we are able to make a positive impact on the lives of Cayman’s young people and our future leaders. By encouraging our young people to develop healthier lifestyles from an early age, we can have a healthier population overall in the future.” {Quote from Dr. Sook Yin, Co-Chair of CHTF}.

“The Walkers Foundation is pleased to be able to support the CHTF Health4Youth Program. The program performs an incredibly important service by promoting a healthy lifestyle amongst our children and educating the wider community in Cayman about nutrition and the benefits of being active.” {Quote from Nancy Lewis of Walkers Foundation}

For information on the CHTF & Health4Youth program or to find out how you can become involved, contact Sue Rajah, Project Coordinator at 916-6324 or [email protected].