The Childhood Obesity Prevention Scorecard (COPS) is tracking policies and programmes across the Caribbean.
The HCC developed the Childhood Obesity Prevention Scorecard or COPS to facilitate strengthened awareness of national policy responses to childhood obesity as part of the monitoring and evaluation component of the HCC Civil Society Action Plan for Preventing Childhood Obesity in the Caribbean.
COPS is a simple tool to assist civil society organisations (CSOs) in tracking national progress across key priority policy and programming areas.
View the Country Scorecards here.
View the Childhood Obesity Prevention Scorecard (COPS) Regional Snapshot here.
Read more about the Scorecards here.
Background
The HCC developed the Childhood Obesity Prevention Scorecard or COPS to facilitate strengthened awareness of national policy responses to childhood obesity as part of the monitoring and evaluation component of the HCC Civil Society Action Plan for Preventing Childhood Obesity in the Caribbean. Rates of Childhood overweight and obesity have reached epidemic proportions in the Caribbean. Countries in the region are among the most obese nations in the world with adult obesity rates upwards of 60% in countries such as the Bahamas and Barbados. On average 1/3 of Caribbean children are overweight or obese, a situation driven in large part by seismic shifts in diets over recent generations from locally grown produce to highly process imported ‘foods’. In response to the rising levels of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents, the global health community has responded with clear guidelines to inform comprehensive national programmes. The Final Report of the Commision on Ending Childhood Obesity released in 2016, specifically recommends that NGOs: raise the profile of childhood obesity prevention through advocacy efforts and the dissemination of information; motivate consumers to demand that governments support healthy lifestyles and that the food and non-alcoholic beverage industry provide healthy products, and do not market unhealthy foods and sugar-sweetened beverages to children; and contribue to the development and implementation of a monitoring and accountability mechanism.
In April 2016 members of the HCC agreed on childhood obesity as a priority area for collective action during the 2017-2021 strategic period. In order to support CSO activities under this umbrella, in October 2017, HCC launched the Civil Society Action Plan for Preventing Childhood Obesity in the Caribbean (CSAP) which identifies priority areas for civil society action; showcases examples of good practices regionally and globally; and provides practical steps to guide the civil society contribution to the national and regional response to the epidemic and overweight and obesity among our children and adolescents in the region. In order to mount an effective advocacy response and to hold governments accountable to related commitments, CSOs need to best understand the local and regional environment with respect to the response to childhood obesity policy and programmes.
Recognizing that CSOs have limited capacity to track, monitor and ensure accountability across the full range of NCD policy and programming, the HCC Childhood Obesity Prevention Scorecard (COPS) identifies 15 priority policy and programming areas needed to effectively combat childhood obesity. The priority areas are based on national, regional and international guidelines for responding to childhood obesity and align with the seven priority areas identified in the HCC launched the Civil Society Action Plan for Preventing Childhood Obesity in the Caribbean (CSAP). The scorecard is not exhaustive but rather the intention is to capture key elements of a holistic and comprehensive response based on existing national, regional and global childhood obesity strategic frameworks such as the CARPHA Healthy Weights Plan; the PAHO Childhood Obesity Action Plan; the Port of Spain Grid; the recommendations in the Final report of the WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity; the updated WHO Best Buys and most importantly the HCC Civil Society Action Plan 2017-2021: Preventing Childhood Obesity in the Caribbean.