A programme that aims to prevent children becoming obese adults has been launched by a group of retired Whanganui health professionals in conjunction with Massey University.
Following a pilot project last year, River City Health Trust's programme started with 23 children at Churton School on Thursday, November 23, and will eventually cover about 300 Whanganui schoolchildren, trust member Mike Webber said.
"We are testing the kids' BMI [body mass index] and Massey University is conducting the fitness testing side of the programme," Mr Webber said.
"We will provide the families of the children with their own copy of the test results and they remain confidential to the individual. We then talk to the parents as a group so that no child is singled out and there is no bullying.
"We'll go back after six months to see how the children are getting on and whether there have been improvements.