'Urgent action needed' to tackle high obesity rate

Obesity is a big problem in the Hawke's Bay

Hawke's Bay District Health Board has heard the region's increasing obesity rate requires urgent action at the local level.

A report by the DHB's target champion for the obesity indicator, Dr Caroline McElnay, was discussed at yesterday's board meeting.

It cited recently obtained data from the NZ Health Survey, which found 34 per cent of adults in Hawke's Bay was obese - an increase of 8 per cent since 2006.

Fifty-one per cent of the region's Maori adults were obese and 29 per cent of non Maori.

"The increasing prevalence of obesity over several decades requires immediate action sustained over many years to halt and ultimately decrease the trend."

DHB chair Kevin Atkinson said obesity had become a "massive problem" in Hawke's Bay.

"My view is we're really struggling with this obesity area and it's going to have a lot of costs."

Board members acknowledged the success of the IronMaori multisport event. Now in its sixth year, IronMaori aims to introduce Maori to physical exercise and activity while providing a family and group atmosphere.

Mr Atkinson asked the event's co-founder Heather Skipworth QSM about the possibility of participants weighing themselves before the event so that they could aim for weight targets.

However, Ms Skipworth said the solution to obesity did not lie in "measuring weight or BMIs".

"We need to uplift wairua, uplift mana - if key performance indicators are targeted in that way, I think we'll start to see a drop in obesity."

In response to the obesity rate among Maori, board member Ngahiwi Tomoana advocated for a "whanau-based" approach.

As there was no overarching central Government strategy for obesity prevention, Ms McElnay's report recommended the DHB "take a leadership role" and establish a "cross-sector taskforce" to tackle the issue across the region.