New Healthy Kids Programme for Primary Schools Throughout the UK
Simon Vane Percy
Vane Percy & Roberts
+ 44 (0)1737 821 890
or
Paul Lasiuk
Healthy Interactions
312-755-9901 x116
or
Sanjay Mistry
British Dietetic Association
+ 44 (0)7957 355416
Healthy Interactions, a global leader in health education, today announces the beginning of a five-year partnership with the British Dietetic Association (BDA), the UK’s largest organisation of food and nutrition professionals. The collaboration will focus on the creation of a variety of programmes, using a unique methodology to address food and nutrition issues. The UK will be the first market in the world to develop training and education resources to tackle such issues.
The collaboration aims to help combat growing health problems in the UK, such as the rising levels of diabetes and obesity. If no action is taken to reverse current trends, 60 percent of British men, half of female Britons and one-quarter of children in the UK will be obese by 20501. The UK Healthy Kids Conversation MapTM programme – the first initiative in development and due for launch in 2009 – will be available across the country, and ultimately be offered to 22,000 primary schools in the UK. Dietitians, teachers and health professionals will be able to use The Conversation Map programme to tackle childhood obesity.
The Conversation Map methodology is a powerful new learning method that uses conversation-based, peer-to-peer experiences, developed over the last ten years in more than fifty countries, to create a deeper level of personal health engagement. This approach has been successful in helping people determine their personal plans for living with a disease or achieving a specific health objective.
Announcing the partnership Pauline Douglas, honorary chairman of the British Dietetic Association, said: “This is a really exciting opportunity for the BDA, and we are looking forward to working closely with Healthy Interactions in developing these Conversation Map tools in the UK. Once these tools have been developed tested and finalised we will offer them to patient groups and other medical support groups as a new option for delivering diet and nutritional information. Getting people of all ages to change their lifestyle in the long-term is extremely difficult. But, we believe that Healthy Interactions, through its Conversation Map tools, takes a very innovative approach by encouraging active discussion between patients and healthcare professionals in developing their individual treatment plans, which lead to behaviour change.”
Peter Gorman, co-founder of Healthy Interactions said: “. We believe that the Conversation Map(TM) approach linked with the knowledge of the BDA will prove to be very effective in helping people to make the personal changes they need to take control and live healthier lives. We are in initial discussions with retail, sport and health organisations who are very interested in supporting the first initiative involving children from across the UK.”
Healthy Interactions recently announced the launch of the Diabetes Conversation Map(TM) Programme, in collaboration with Diabetes UK. The programme aims to help the 2.2 million people in the UK who have been diagnosed with diabetes2.
1Foresight: Tackling Obesities: Future Choices project, www.foresight.gov.uk published in October 2007
2http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Professionals/Information_resources/ Reports/Diabetes_prevalence_2006/
About Healthy Interactions, Inc.
Healthy Interactions is devoted to driving Personal Health Engagement — our term for helping individuals commit to healthier actions. We create “Aha! Moments” that inspire people to change personal health behaviors. Healthy Interactions builds partnerships with leading medical and disease associations, not-for-profit organizations, corporations, and caring healthcare professionals trained in our approaches, enabling millions of people to take control of their health and live their best lives. Founded in 2003, Healthy Interactions is headquartered in Chicago, USA. For more information, visit www.healthyi.co.uk.
About the British Dietetic Association
The British Dietetic Association, founded in 1936, is the professional association for registered dietitians in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is the nation’s largest organisation of food and nutrition professionals with over 6,000 members. Registered dietitians are the only qualified health professionals that assess, diagnose and treat diet and nutrition problems at an individual and wider public health level. Uniquely, dietitians use the most up to date public health and scientific research on food, health and disease, which they translate into practical guidance to enable people to make appropriate lifestyle and food choices.
Dietitians are the only nutrition professionals to be statutorily regulated, and governed by an ethical code, to ensure that they always work to the highest standard. Dietitians work in the NHS, private practice, industry, education, research, sport, media, public relations, publishing, NGOs and government. Their advice influences food and health policy across the spectrum from government, local communities and individuals.
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