Dr Erica Gadsby BSocSc, PGDipPH, PhD, FRSPH
Senior Research Fellow Phone: 01227 827576
Email: E.Gadsby@kent.ac.uk
Excellence in Health Research
Public Health Collaboration.
CHSS has been commissioned to conduct an external evaluation of Medway Public Health Department’s weight management projects. This collaborative project will assess how Medway’s initiatives and programmes could be built on and improved.
In 2014 Medway Council hosted an Obesity Summit attended by private, public and voluntary sector partners, to help develop a framework for tackling obesity. Medway Council’s dedicated ‘Supporting Healthy Weight’ team (SHW) works with adults, families, children and young people to help them in achieving healthy weight. Within the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) classification, 23.3% of 4-5 year olds and 32.7% of 10-11 year olds in Medway are overweight or obese.
The SHW team provide and commission a diverse range of interventions across Medway to help prevent and manage overweight. These include four MEND programmes (2-4, 5-7, 7-13 and Graduates) and Fit Fix, a programme for 13 – 17 year olds. The team work across the Council to maximise opportunities to support obesity prevention in all aspects of the Council’s work, and in the revised Medway Local Plan.
The evaluation will also focus on raising awareness of the SHW portfolio and developing its media profile to get the message out to a wide audience about obesity and public health initiatives in Medway.
Start date: 15/01/2015 End date: 14/01/2017
Funder: Medway Council
Funding: £67,187
Poster presentation: Evaluability assessments as part of a ‘whole systems approach’ to evaluating Medway Council’s interventions to tackle obesity.
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