The General Directorate of Public Health of the SCS has a series of nutritional education initiatives, programs and projects aimed at different segments of the Canary Islands population.
The Department of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, through the General Directorate of Public Health of the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), joins for another year the commemoration of World Food Day, which, at the initiative of the Organization of the United Nations for Food and Agriculture (FAO), takes place every October 16 with the aim of reaffirming the importance of the right to food as a basis for building a dignified life and a healthier and more sustainable future.
Making this day visible represents an opportunity to promote health literacy in the Canarian population and raise awareness among the population about the importance of eating in a healthy and sustainable way.
In this sense, the General Directorate of Public Health is implementing a series of nutritional education actions aimed at different segments of the Canarian population.
On the one hand, the Plan for the Prevention of Childhood Obesity in children under 12 years of age in the Canary Islands (POICAN), which was approved in July 2024, is available on this website. Obesity is a multifactorial and complex chronic disease that causes an accumulation of adipose tissue and has become a priority health problem worldwide, affecting all age groups.
In childhood and youth, this problem is even more worrying, since it tends to persist in adult life and is associated with the early appearance of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, osteoarticular problems and disorders. psychopathologies with a greater probability of premature death and disability.
The data published in the Study assessing the effects of the vocid-19 pandemic on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Canary Islands child population aged six to nine years attending school in 2022, reflect that the prevalence of overweight is 26. 3 percent and obesity 19.5 percent. These figures have increased since 2019, when overweight was 24.5 percent and obesity was 18.5 percent of this population sector.
The POICAN includes among its strategic objectives to reverse the current trend and reduce the prevalence of excess weight in the Canary Islands child population under 12 years of age, and to increase healthy lifestyle habits from an early age.
On the other hand, a Healthy and Sustainable Eating Guide for the Canary Islands has been published: discover health on your plate, which arises from the proposal of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Nutrition Organization of the United Nations. Agriculture (FAO) to develop food guides adapted to the social and cultural context, as one of the recommended actions to promote healthy and sustainable eating.
The General Directorate of Public Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, in response to these recommendations, has coordinated the creation of this dietary guide Discover health on your plate, available here, whose objectives are the following:
• Raise awareness among the Canarian population about the importance of an adequate, varied and balanced diet; adapted to the different stages of the life cycle and its health benefits.
• Influence the key aspects of sustainable eating patterns and the benefits of consuming local and seasonal products.
• Inform about the main food groups, meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, cereals, dairy products, eggs, as well as salt and sweeteners that should constitute part of a balanced and healthy diet, highlighting the macronutrients and micronutrients that are part of their composition, indicating the health benefits of each of them.
• Provide practical tools such as the food pyramid and the hand method to facilitate adherence to healthy eating patterns.
Food to the fore and physical activity (ALIPA), health education program, aimed at schoolchildren from the first stages of life and developed by the General Directorate of Public Health in collaboration with the General Directorate of Planning, Innovation and Educational Promotion of the Ministry of Education, its objectives are to act and educate in a healthy and sustainable diet, promote the practice of physical activity and the prevention of a sedentary lifestyle, and promote emotional well-being.
The Circles and Healthy Living program, a reference to advance the training of the population in health protection factors, is available at the following link. It is an integrative instrument in which the main recommendations are expressed in a didactic manner to reduce the impact of the determinants of non-communicable diseases, and promote healthy lifestyle habits in different areas, among which healthy eating stands out.
healthy eating
The right to food means that food must be adequate, available and accessible to all. Food represents diversity, nutrition, affordability and safety, essential factors to make a healthy diet accessible to all.
Unhealthy eating patterns are the main cause of chronic non-communicable diseases that negatively affect the health and well-being of the Canarian population, highlighting diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, overweight and obesity.