Healthy Eating - Healthy Action
Oranga Kai - Oranga Pumau

Newsletter
Issue 8, March 2008

In This Issue:

• Introduction from Margie Apa
• Building the HEHA network
• Fruit in Schools
• News from the regions
• Update from HEHA
• Tongans working together
• Living streets Aotearoa
• Food industry news
• Update: Mission-On
• Introducing Melanie MacKenzie
• Info & tips

---

Introduction from Margie Apa

We’ve had more exciting developments since our last HEHA Action Report and it gives me great pleasure to welcome the new district coordinators sitting within each of the 21 District Health Boards.

As you’ll be well aware, the Ministry of Health is committed to supporting schools and early childhood education (ECE) services to improve their nutrition environments. The HEHA Project team developed the Food and Beverage Classification System and a support programme to help schools and ECE services when it comes to making healthy food and drink choices.

The new district coordinators form one of the key support mechanisms now available to schools and ECE services. They’ll be sitting alongside HEHA Project Managers in each DHB and will also help contribute to the implementation of each DHB’s District HEHA Plan.

Another focus of their role will be administering the Nutrition Fund. The Nutrition Fund was created to support the implementation of the Ministry of Education’s Food and Nutrition for Healthy, Confident Kids guidelines and the Ministry of Health’s Food and Beverage Classification System. Schools and ECEs are able to apply to each of the 21 DHBs for grants from the fund to assist with improving their nutrition environments.

I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of each of the 21 DHB HEHA Project Managers throughout the country, who have all been in their new roles for a year now. Their task as HEHA Project Managers is one that the HEHA Project team at the Ministry values greatly. Without them as the Ministry’s eyes and ears on the ground covering the length and breadth of New Zealand, there is no way that implementing the HEHA Strategy would work as effectively.

These statistics are widely known, but two out of every five deaths each year (approximately 11,000 annually) are due to nutrition-related risk factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, overweight and obesity, and inadequate vegetable and fruit intake.

Of these 11,000 deaths a year, 8000 to 9000 are likely to be due to dietary factors alone, and the remaining 2000 to 3000 due to suboptimal physical activity levels.

In their role as DHB HEHA Project Managers, they’re assisting us at the Ministry in trying to reduce those 11,000 deaths every year – and without them, we simply couldn’t do it.

These dedicated Project Managers are achieving great things and are well on their way to improving the nutrition and physical activity levels of their populations, throughout New Zealand, and ensuring we remain committed to implementing HEHA.

Kind regards,
Margie Apa

Deputy Director-General of the Sector Capability
and Innovation Directorate, Ministry of Health

---

Building the HEHA network

Work under way to establish a HEHA network
Synergia Ltd is working with HEHA stakeholders across the country over the next few months to establish a national HEHA network.

The HEHA network project aims to improve the flow of information, communication, learning and collaboration across the HEHA sector and Synergia has begun consultation to find out exactly how the HEHA network should operate. The overall goal is to provide a sustainable national network that supports the implementation of the HEHA Strategy.

Paul Stephenson from Synergia says establishing the national network will require linking into the many existing nutrition and physical activity networks across the country, involving a large number of individuals and organisations from diverse backgrounds. The timeframe for consultation is also very tight as the network will be established from mid 2008.

The idea for the network emerged as the Ministry of Health noted that there was a need to improve leadership, communication, learning and development within the HEHA sector and identifi ed that an enhanced HEHA network may be part of the solution.

In March 2007, Synergia completed a discussion paper on the need for a national HEHA network, which also included advice on the scope and form of such a network.

Synergia’s discussion paper involved consultation with HEHA stakeholders and cited general and specific ways in which a network could deliver value to the HEHA sector. Stakeholders were Stakeholders did note however, that collaboration and communication has a cost and that networks will not be sustainable unless funding is available and they continue to deliver value. The way the network is designed and developed needs to contribute to reducing health inequalities and be meaningful for Māori and Pacific people.

The next steps involve establishing a sector leadership group, who will be charged with guiding the development of the HEHA network and website to address many of the communication needs identified by HEHA stakeholders.

Paul Stephenson says Synergia is now in a consultation phase with HEHA stakeholders. “We’ve developed a 15-minute web-based survey that has been sent to HEHA stakeholders to gain feedback on our HEHA network concept. We want as many passionate people with an interest in HEHA to fi ll in the survey.”

“We’re encouraging people who receive the survey via email to pass it on to their networks so we get as much feedback as possible. We also hope those that fill in the survey will become part of the HEHA database we’re also creating, to ensure we reach as many people who need to be aware of this as possible,” says Paul.

“The other issue is that HEHA is much wider than just the health sector. We are engaging with other sectors, like transport, education, local government, agriculture, research and development and the food and advertising industries, to seek their views and ideas to ensure we get the concept right.”

“One of the key issues in this establishment phase is to understand how the HEHA network can best add value to all of the stakeholder groups to ensure the network will be seen as a vital resource.” supportive of the development of a HEHA network.

---

Fruit in Schools

Thinking outside the square at Newlands School
Improving nutrition within the school and early childhood education (ECE) settings is a major focus for the Government right now and there are a number of initiatives being implemented to improve the diets of children in schools and ECE services, where they do a large amount of their daily eating.




Many low decile schools (decile one and two) are part of the Fruit in Schools programme, but for some higher decile schools, finding funding to promote healthy lifestyles can be a struggle without Government funding.

The Principal of Newlands School (decile seven) in Wellington, Deborah Butt, has proved that attitude is everything, and has been successfully implementing her own take on Fruit in Schools since late 2006.

Deb says, “I was asked to sit on the Ministry of Health’s Fruit in Schools external reference group by the New Zealand Principals Federation, to represent the education sector and the views of school principals,
whilst the Ministry was working on the roll-out of phase one of Fruit in Schools.”

“In that capacity, I was lucky to have access to plenty of literature and research around the benefi ts of programmes such as Fruit in Schools, which got me thinking about how I could come up with a strategy and
make it happen at my school.”

Deb then took her idea to the staff and board of trustees in late 2006 and it was agreed that she could trial the programme during Term Four in 2006 with the school’s 250 pupils.

“The board gave me the $4000 I needed to run Fruit in Schools for the term and I used my local fruiterer in Crofton Downs where I live to supply fruit to the school.”

Deb knew to make it a success she needed not only the buy-in from the pupils themselves but also from the teachers. “I purchased chopping boards, fruit bowls, serving platters and knives for each teacher
to make it as easy for them as possible. If the programme was seen as an add-on I knew it would become a burden on the teachers.”

At the end of the term, it was deemed a success but Deb knew she needed to make it more sustainable to implement it successfully in 2007 and beyond.

“Purchasing 20 kilograms of fruit for the school every week only costs us $2000 a year now. Parents provide three pieces of fruit a week per family which also helps contribute to the programme.”

At the end of the school year last year, pupils were asked what the five best things at Newlands School were. More than 80% said that eating fruit every day was one of their favourite things to do at school.

Deb says, “Some of the research I read focused on children not having the opportunity to develop a taste for fruit and vegetables. Schools are a neutral place to provide opportunities to develop the habit. It was hard work
to begin with but it’s just part of what we do at Newlands School now. The children wouldn’t let the teachers forget to take a fruit break!”

“We’re now looking ahead to see how we can make Fruit in Schools even more sustainable. We’ve decided to plant fruit trees and develop a vegetable garden, which is going to be a shared responsibility for the teachers and the children,” says Deb.

The Newlands School timetable changed this year as a result of Fruit in Schools and their commitment to being Sunsmart. Children have two 40 minute breaks, with a 10 minute break at 10am every day to eat their
fruit. The change means the children aren’t outside in the heat of the day for longer than half an hour at a time.

Newlands School also operates a ‘no fizzy drink’ policy and promotes water as the drink of choice, explaining to children that fruit juices are a special treat and aren’t recommended for school.

Deborah says they’re in the process of developing a health committee, made up of pupils from year two to year six. “The health committee will hopefully come up with their own ideas for making Newlands School even
healthier, which will also ensure we are fully compliant with the Ministry of Education’s National Administration Guideline Change, which comes into effect in June.”

---

News from the regions

Surf to city – Southland DHB
Around 200 Southland DHB employees and another 140-odd family members took to the streets of Invercargill to participate in the Surf to City event last month.

People were able to walk, run or bike the 11.5km fun event, with Southland DHB employees easily recognisable in their blue t-shirts, all promoting the HEHA message.

Interim Deputy CEO of Southland DHB, Lexie O’Shea says the goal was to get as many staff as possible out there getting active.

Tiwai Point’s New Zealand Aluminium Smelter issued a challenge to Southland DHB to get as many staff as possible to enter the event.

---

Update: From HEHA

What’s happening With the HEHA proJect team?

HEHA Project team welcomes latest report on food advertising to children
The HEHA Project team has welcomed a report released by the Peak Group on public opinions about food advertising to children.

The Peak Group (made up of National Heart Foundation, the Cancer Society, the Stroke Foundation, Diabetes NZ and Te Hotu Manawa Māori) undertook a survey to measure public opinion about what limits, if any, society should place on the advertising of food to children.

HEHA Programme Manager Cynthia Maling says the overwhelming majority of those surveyed do not think it’s morally or ethically acceptable for food companies to try to infl uence the food preferences of children under
7 years of age.

Those surveyed also said they wanted to see all advertising and promotion of all forms to children reduced or stopped.

“Most parents and grandparents of children up to 13 years of age were very concerned about overweight and obesity in children and the contribution made to this by the advertising of food and drink products to children,” says Cynthia Maling.

She says the HEHA Project team will be undertaking a piece of work aimed at strengthening the current selfregulatory system for unhealthy food. In addition, the Television Broadcasters Council is developing a Children’s Food Rating System, which will reduce children’s exposure to the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages once implemented.

District coordinators hui
Last month, new district coordinators from each of the 21 DHBs came together in Wellington for a two-day planning hui.

The district coordinators have been funded by the HEHA Project team to help schools and early childhood education (ECE) services access the Nutrition Fund and implement the Food and Beverage Classification System.

The new coordinators sit alongside HEHA Project Managers at each DHB and will be in place until 30 June 2009, at which time the Ministry will review the ongoing support needed by schools and ECEs.

New Zealand Healthy Eating – Healthy Action Research and Evaluation Database
Research New Zealand has been contracted by the HEHA Project team to establish a New Zealand research and evaluation database for Healthy Eating – Healthy Action and sport and recreation-related research and
evaluation literature.

As well as increasing the accessibility of New Zealand HEHA and sport and recreation-related research, evaluation and related practice resources, it is hoped that the database will encourage the growth of networks of researchers, evaluators, providers, and policy makers across the research community, government, research/ evaluation and NGO sectors.

We’ll continue to provide updates on the development of the Database through the HEHA Action Report, but you can also contact Debbie Cossar at Research New Zealand if you require further information or would
like to have your name added to a contact list for the Database.
(Debbie.Cossar@researchnz.com or phone 0800 500 168)

---

Tongans working together

Tongan community action programme
In Christchurch, the Tongan community represents approximately 11 percent of the total Pacific population (9,465) with 1,071 occupants in the city. It is an extremely young community with 42 percent of the Tongan population aged under 15 years. These youthful demographics highlight the importance of proactive health promotion and community engagement. For the Tongan community in Canterbury aged 15 years and over, the median income was close to $20,000 a year. This highlights a significant financial barrier and some of the challenges this community has in maintaining and changing lifestyles.

A Project Advisory Group was established and, together with the Christchurch Pacific Community Reference Group, they endorsed the selection of the Tongan community, as it was identified as the Pasifika community with:

• High incidence of cardiovascular disease and obesity
• The most barriers to community health development, including workforce capacity
• The lowest engagement with Pacific

Service Providers in Christchurch The Tongan Community Action Programme (TCAP) began in October 2006 in Rowley, Christchurch. Ethics approval for the evaluation of this programme was obtained from the Southern Regional Ethics Committee in September 2006 until September 2008 and Ministry of Health Evaluation funding approved in October 2007 to assist with the completion of the evaluation for this project.

The goal of the programme is to reduce health inequalities for Tongan people living in Christchurch. The objectives are to reduce obesity and associated long-term health problems by improving diet, increasing physical activity levels and reducing the levels of smoking among the participants.

The planned long-term outcomes for the TCAP are to:

• Reduce health inequalities for the Tongan community in Christchurch
• Increase the health of the Tongan community in Christchurch
• Sustain change
• Increase community awareness

As the TCAP has progressed it has become apparent that signifi cant impact is occurring as a result of the intervention. Three clear and intersecting areas where this impact is occurring have been identified as illustrated as follows The Community Action Intervention which began in October 2006 consisted of a series of nine types of activities.
The activities were:

1. Knowledge and awareness of smoking on health
2. Physical activity sessions
3. Delivery of key health messages
4. Healthy shared breakfasts
5. Healthy food demonstrations
6. School holiday programmes
7. Establishment of edible gardens in homes and community venues
8. Workforce development
9. Research feedback to individual participants by their GP.

The project is community-based and aims to develop capacity within the community to ensure sustainability and less reliance on external support. There are 39 consenting adults for the research component and Baseline data which was collected in October 2006. The 12-month data has recently been analysed and the 18-month data will be collected next month. Thirteen participants lost weight over the 12-month period. Despite these reductions, three participants remained in the overweight range and 15 in the obese range. Results also indicate that a number of individuals in this community are at very high health risk.

Tokanga Vehikite and Havili Fifita completed their Certificate in Pacific Nutrition, through the Pacific Island Heart Beat (part of the Heart Foundation) course in April 2006 and initially coordinated and facilitated the
Tongan Community Action Programme.

Earlier in 2007, a request was made by Ifalame Teisi, an assistant minister of the Free Church of Tonga, to explore the expansion of the TCAP for his church congregation. Ifalame Teisi also graduated with the Certificate in Pacific Nutrition and is a consented TCAP participant. He has proved to be a primary driver in the expansion of this programme, implementing activities that began in July 2007 running for 12 weeks to the end of September. The Heart Foundation funded shared breakfasts and group exercise sessions on Saturday mornings.

The edible gardens established in 20 participating families’ houses have been growing and providing plenty of gardening exercise and healthy produce. This initiative ran parallel with a larger edible garden at the nearby Rowley Community Centre where children from Rowley Primary School have been learning about edible gardens from local gardening guru Lily White.

By October 2007, 50 Tongan families had edible gardens growing at their homes. Twenty of these were the initial Rowley group and an additional 30 were from the development at the Free Church of Tonga. The Free Church of Tonga and original Rowley-based group are working collaboratively to share knowledge and resources.

The current focuses for the programme are physical activity (with free sessions being run for participants) and cholesterol-lowering nutritional advice, ahead of the 18-month data collection in April.

This article was submitted by Anne Trappit, Regional Heart Health Manager, National Heart Foundation. For more information about the Tongan Community Action Programme, Anne can be contacted on (03) 366 2112

---

Living Streets Aotearoa

We all know that walking for health has wide-reaching benefits and one group which is actively promoting this is Living Streets Aotearoa.

Living Streets Aotearoa began as Living Streets Wellington in 1998. It was established by Wellington City Councillor Celia Wade-Brown, who identified a need for a pedestrian advocacy group, through her involvement on the Council’s road safety committee.

In 2002, there became a strong need for a national network of walking advocates and so Living Streets Aotearoa was born. Living Streets works to advocate for, and to develop, walking-friendly communities throughout New Zealand, and to promote the social, environmental and economic benefits of walking as a means of transport and recreation.

Director Liz Thomas says Living Streets Aotearoa’s vision is “more people choosing to walk more often and enjoying public places – young and old, fast and slow, commuting, shopping, between appointments, for exercise, for leisure and for pleasure.”

Liz says there is now a network of walking advocacy groups throughout the North and South Islands, including Auckland, Hamilton, Taupo, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson/Tasman, Christchurch and Dunedin.

“Part of the work of Living Streets is hosting a biennial national walking conference. The third New Zealand Walking Conference will be held this year on August 4th and 5th in Auckland. This will bring together professionals and advocates from the health sector, councils, regional sports trusts, and sustainable transport consultants. The conference is a perfect way to share good ideas and learn from each other.”

She says this year’s conference theme is ‘Double the feet on the street’ and will feature a keynote speaker from the United States, Dan Burden, founder of an organisation called Walkable Communities. Living Streets is calling for papers now and registrations for the conference will open shortly.

“We’re also working hard to try and get non-government organisations like the Cancer Society and the Heart Foundation to work with us to increase opportunities for promoting walking and cycling messages to improve the health of New Zealanders,” says Liz.

“It’s important that we work more closely with the health sector to get the health benefits of walking out there. If you incorporate walking into your daily life, it’s far more effective than saying you’ll go for a walk after work
or in the weekend, and then not getting round to actually doing it. If you have to walk as part of your daily routine, you just do it and the long-term benefits are far greater. Even fitting in ten minutes a day is better than doing none at all.”

Living Streets Aotearoa has also developed an online database of walking information. WalkIT features walking maps from throughout New Zealand that are easily downloadable and can be accessed via the Living Streets Aotearoa website – www.livingstreets.org.nz

Liz says Living Streets also runs community street reviews to assess the walkability of routes and develops walking maps and signage to help residents, workers and visitors find their way around communities on foot.

“We would like to work towards having a national walking day or week, similar to BikeWise Week. This year we are running a local pilot event in Wellington to see how it might work.” Run as part of the Wellington City
Council’s ‘Stepping Out’ programme, the Walk2Work event will be held on the 19th of March at Wellington’s Frank Kitts Park on the waterfront from 7am–9am, where people walking to work, all the way or as part of their journey, can stop off and enjoy the event.

Liz says the UK equivalent of Living Streets Aotearoa has a Walking Works programme which includes a national Walk to Work Day and other great initiatives that they’re looking into adapting for use here.

---

Food industry news

Food Industry Group meets with Ministers

The Food Industry Group (FIG) met recently with the Minister of Health, David Cunliffe, and Associate Minister of Health, Damien O’Connor to present its annual report.

The Group reported that for 2007-2008 it had set out seven projects and goals with 42 actions areas that were to be achieved. These were based on the HEHA Implementation Plan. The Group noted that 38 of these actions had been undertaken on time and the other four would commence by the end of the financial year.

FIG also outlined its four-step process with the food industry to ensure they were finding solutions to the obesity problem.

Step 1	To ensure all members were aware of the obesity issue. This had been achieved.
Step 2	To ensure all members were making progress in terms of making changes. This had also been achieved. It was pointed out that some companies were further down the process of making changes than others, but by far the majority had either made a lot of substantial changes or ‘medium plus’ changes to their products and marketing policies.
Step 3	To gain measurements of these changes. Substantial information has now been collated. This information was contained in the annual report and also on a spreadsheet/database.
Step 4	For the food industry to set targets for further changes. This was to be the main objective for 2008/09. The setting of targets tied in with the Government Response to the Health Select Committee Inquiry where it was noted that the Ministry of Health and the food industry would be working together to set targets.

Just a few examples of changes the food industry had undertaken were:

• Fonterra had removed 217 tonnes of sugar and 150 tonnes of fat from their product ranges in the last two years.
• Arnotts, by reformulating some of their biscuit range to lower fat products, had removed 4.5 billion kilojoules from the food supply.
• Goodman Fielder had removed 26 tonnes of fat per annum from its flavoured milk range.
• Heinz Watties had launched 45 new product lines.
• Hubbard’s had re-launched most of its breakfast cereal range and removed 32.8 tonnes of fat and 1.8 tonnes of sugar; it had also increased fibre by 18 tonnes in its breakfast cereal range.
• Tegel, by reformulating its kids’ products, had removed 18 tonnes of fat and 1.9 tonnes of salt.
• Unilever, during the 1990s, had removed 3,000 tonnes of trans fat and 250 tonnes of salt from its spread products.

Examples were given of the many companies which had also changed to smaller pack sizes, were sourcing colour and flavours from natural sources and were working to remove as many allergens as possible from certain product ranges. Most companies had also stated they had nutrition policies
and new product guidelines in place.

In terms of marketing/advertising and sponsorships, again many major companies had guidelines in place. For example at Kellogg, if a product designed for children does not meet certain nutrient criteria then the
standard will be reformulated or the product not marketed to children.

In terms of advertising to children it was reported that the agreed Children’s Food Rating system had been completed and was in the process of being reviewed by all interested parties.

Associate Minister of Health Damien O’Connor commented that, looking at the information in the report, he could see the huge strides food companies had made and were making to create a healthier environment.

This article was submitted by Vicki Hamilton, Executive Director, Food Industry Group

---

Update: Mission-On

Launch of www.mission-on.co.nz

Prime Minister Helen Clark has launched a new interactive and fun website as part of the Mission-On campaign – www.mission-on.co.nz

Launched at Holy Cross School in Miramar, Wellington, on the 19th of February, the website is aimed at children aged from 5 – 12-years and encourages them to make good choices about what they eat and being physically active, and to set goals and have a go.

At the launch, Helen Clark said whilst the website looks bright and fun, it also carries some very important messages for young children, highlighting the importance of nutrition and fuelling our bodies with healthy food, as well as exciting ideas about getting active at home and outdoors.

The website includes a number of features to motivate children, including the ability to personalise their own page and character, earn points and win prizes, receive virtual medals for mastering new skills and to post
pictures and videos showing how they have put what they learnt online into practice in their day-to-day lives.

Helen Clark said the new Mission-On website was a fantastic way to keep kids and their families engaged and motivated to set goals and make good choices towards healthy lifestyles.

Pukana
The team from TV’s Pukana show are on a Mission – to get kids super healthy! Join them for top tips on getting active and eating well in te reo Māori. It’s on Saturdays at 4pm on Māori Television and Sundays at 9am on TV3. Sunday’s show has English subtitles. Check it out! There’s heaps of useful info – as well as cool music, cheeky send-ups, competitions and giveaways. Plus, kura (schools) learn to make healthy lunches and dinners for just $10 – yum! And, get your best moves ready – the Waiata Mu lip-sync competition is back.

Activate
You might recognise the presenter – Tumehe Rongonui, aka Tu, from What Now. Tu puts 16 secondary school teams through their paces. The show’s a fun mix of cooking, quiz questions and physical challenges. With some silly bits and sketches too! Tu’s helped by fi tness guru Ish and dietician Anna. They share their fitness tips, videos and recipes on the Activate website – as well as on the show.

Tune in 9.30, Saturday mornings on TV2! You can also check out tips and clips on the TVNZ website www.tvnz.co.nz keyword Activate.

---

Introducing Melanie MacKenzie

HEHA Project Manager, Southland DHB

After spending four years at West Coast DHB as a planning and funding analyst and another year as a health promoter at Greymouth Community and Public Health, Melanie McKenzie was well placed to take on the role of Southland DHB HEHA Project Manager a year ago.
Melanie says it was her previous experience in both planning and funding and a year at the coalface that has shaped the way she has taken on her new challenge at Southland DHB.
“Communication is key. I try to share as much as I can with our stakeholders and support collaboration so we can collectively achieve the best results possible.”

Melanie says one of the challenges of her role is making sure that Southland DHB leads by example.
“Last month, we had more than 200 Southland DHB staff participate in Surf to City, a fun event where people walked, ran or biked the 11.5 kilometre course. Staff also brought along family members to participate, so all in all we had close to 400 people representing the DHB at the event, which was fantastic.”

Melanie and a group of other Southland DHB employees have also spent the past six months developing an internal HEHA policy for the DHB.
“The policy covers everything from vending machines, food provided at the hospital cafeteria, catering orders, to active transport and the availability of showers for staff.”

She says the internal policy is yet to be signed off by senior management at the DHB but consultation has begun with staff to gain their feedback before the policy is finalised.

Melanie says, “Another highlight has been managing the Nutrition Fund. In September last year we had a total of 33 applications and funded or partially funded about 28 of those applications. It was such a positive initiative to be involved with and it was great getting to work with schools and early childhood education services directly, who are all working towards improving the lifestyles of Southland children.”

Melanie says because of Southland’s size, there is great collaboration between organisations and the community works well together.
“If one agency is working on a particular HEHA project, others pitch in and give their expertise and assistance and vice versa.”

What ’s Happening in Melanie’s Region :

Southland Breastfeeding Advocacy Group A group that’s making a real difference to improve the breastfeeding rates of Southland babies and toddlers is the Southland Breastfeeding Advocacy Group, which Melanie is an enthusiastic member of, given that improving breastfeeding forms part of the Government’s set of ten health targets to improve the overall health of New Zealanders.

The group meets regularly to plan various breastfeeding projects and activities and is made up of Southland DHB staff, Plunket, La Leche League, Awarua Social and Health Services and Public Health South.

Currently the group is looking at establishing a breastfeeding peer counselling programme in Southland, which would involve supporting mums to support other new mums with breastfeeding.

As part of this work, the group has started working with Southland businesses to make them become more breastfeeding-friendly and has managed to get approval from the Ministry of Social Development to display breastfeeding signage at all of its Work and Income service centres around Southland.

Melanie says, “Breastfeeding rates in Southland are lower than we’d like them to be so we’re working hard to change that.”

The group also identified a need to produce a resource that would serve as a breastfeeding ‘how-to’ guide for new mothers and work is under way to develop this.

“A local sports celebrity has recently agreed to being a breastfeeding spokesperson for the new resource. Not only is she a breastfeeding mum, but she is also a health professional so we’re really pleased we’ve been able to get her on board,” says Melanie.

One of the other goals of the Southland Breastfeeding Advisory Group is to raise awareness of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes in New Zealand known as The Code in New Zealand.

The Code aims to ensure that health workers protect, promote and support breastfeeding. In instances where mothers don’t breastfeed, the Code ensures mums have access to adequate information about breast
milk substitutes.

“We’re working to raise awareness of the Code, using an educative and supportive approach. We’re developing a flyer to mail out to all pharmacies, supermarkets and dairies in Southland where infant formula is sold, reminding retailers of their responsibilities under the Code. Then we’ll be following up with them to see what more assistance we can offer them to be compliant with the Code.”

---

Info & Tips

library corner

The following include the latest studies and research in the HEHA arena:
International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity
Free school fruit – sustained effect three years later
A study of 1,950 6th and 7th grade pupils from 38 Norwegian elementary schools participated in a project to evaluate the long-term effects of the Norwegian School Fruit Programme, provided at no-cost to the pupils, three years after it was provided for free. Nine schools were selected as intervention schools and participated for free in the Norwegian School Fruit Programme for a school year (October 2001 until June 2002). The pupils in the free fruit group increased their fruit and vegetable intake compared to pupils in the control group as a result of the intervention.
http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/4/1/5

Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Cross Government Strategy for England
This strategy has been produced by the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Schools and Families in Britain and is the beginning of a sustained programme to support people to maintain a healthy weight, and sets out what can only be considered the first steps towards achieving the new ambition.

The British Government will publish an annual assessment of the progress it is making in halting and then turning around the rise in excess weight. http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_082378

HEHA Tips

Healthy eating is...
Trying to find something tasty and healthy for lunch can be a challenge. If you make your own lunch, try swapping sandwiches for pita breads or wholemeal wraps to add variety. Having some fresh fruit or dried fruit and nuts handy is helpful for that afternoon slump you may experience mid-afternoon.

Healthy action is...
Trying to fit walking into your daily routine for extra health benefi ts. If you catch a bus or train to work, try getting off at an earlier stop and walking the extra distance, or using your feet instead of the car for meetings or
short distances.

---

HEHA Action Report Feeback

We would love to get your feedback on this bi-monthly newsletter and, of course, to hear how HEHA is being implemented in your respective regions. Please send your contributions to Victoria_Evans@moh.govt.nz

Page last updated: 3 April 2008