On average, Virgin Islands students are among the most obese in the region, teachers and education officials were told during the launch of the Healthy Schools Intervention Programme Workshop at the Student Services Conference Room.
The three-day workshop, which kicked off Monday morning, is part of efforts to reverse that trend.
“We have an epidemic in the region of childhood obesity, and some people may not want to accept it, but it is real and it is here,” said workshop facilitator Christine Bocage, senior technical officer of food security and nutrition at the Caribbean Public Health Association.
Also in recent years, an increasing number of children in the region have been diagnosed with type two diabetes, according to Ms. Bocage.
To help remedy the epidemic, she added, students should be taught from a young age to make healthy food choices.
See the April 16, 2015 edition for full coverage.
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