I am out of the office until 08/12/2021.

For urgent matters, please contact Miss Jackie LAM, CO(Per)4 at 3107 2571 /
&DH/CO[Per]4.

Note: This is an automated response to your message "Freedom of Information
request - Problem with child obesity and its link to sugar intake Efforts
to reduce sugar in the diet - StartSmart" sent on 05.10.2021 10:01:38 PM.

This is the only notification you will receive while this person is away.

Our Ref.:  (53) in DH HPB/6-20/1 Pt.3

Dear Sir / Madam,

Thank you for your email dated 5 October 2021 regarding the captioned
subject.  Please find our reply below to your questions raised.

The Health Promotion Branch (HPB) of the Department of Health (DH) has
launched the “Healthy Drinks at School” Charter (the Charter) since the
2018/2019 school year under the [email address] (SSS) Campaign.
Although the Charter is voluntary, positive feedback and continuous
support have been received from pre-primary institutions. Since the launch
of the Charter, DH has been actively promoting it through various
channels, such as school workshops to the teachers and school personnel,
yearly invitation letters to all local schools, social media events, etc.
 The number of participating schools has been increasing in the past three
years.

To become a signatory of the Charter, the pre-primary institutions are
requested to submit their drink list every school year to ensure that the
drink provision has fully complied with the Charter commitments.  If the
drink list is found unsatisfactory, schools will be reminded and requested
to offer only water and healthy drinks to students, but not to provide any
sugary drinks at campuses.  The rate of non-compliance is very low.
 Through our regular training workshops and health educational materials,
the teachers and school personnel can acquire knowledge on the food label
and learn the practical tips on providing healthier drink choices to their
school children.  Parents’ talks were conducted to deliver our health
message directly to parents.  

In addition, the SSS Campaign developed the “Nutrition Guidelines for
Children Aged 2 to 6” (the Guidelines), which has been promoted to all
local pre-primary institutions through different channels, including
school newsletters, training workshops, meetings with different
stakeholders, social media platform, etc. Previous surveys also revealed
that schools gave positive feedback on the Guidelines and considered it as
an effective health material when promoting healthy eating in the school
setting.

The Family Health Service (FHS) of DH has also been promoting healthy
eating through various means, namely webpage, e-newsletters, online and
face-to-face public talks, leaflets as well as at routine visits at
Maternal and Child Health Centres (MCHCs) according to the child’s age.
The DH recommends that babies should be exclusively breastfed in the first
six months.  At about six months old, babies should be given nutritious
solid foods and continue breastfeeding up to the age of two years or
above.  A series of health education resources on feeding 6 to 24 months
olds (namely [1]"Getting Started", [2]"Moving On" and [3]"Ready to Go")
and a [4]7-Day Meal Plan provides a guideline and assistance to parents on
introducing and choosing nutritious foods for babies, meeting their
nutritional needs, feeding them responsively, helping them to eat
independently and adapting to eat a varied and balanced diet with the
family at around 2 years.  Healthy eating food pyramid for 2 to
5-year-olds [5](http://s.fhs.gov.hk/wveoo) serves as a guide for parents
to provide a balanced diet with a variety of foods for preschool children.
 

FHS surveyed to collect parents' practice and attitudes on feeding their
children.  The report of the survey performed in 2016 can be accessed via
[6]https://www.fhs.gov.hk/english/reports/f....
 

Should you have any enquires, please contact Ms Porky CHEUNG, Senior
Dietitian(HP)1 by email at [email address].  Thank you.

(Porky CHEUNG)
for Director of Health

b.c.c. Service Head, SMO(HP)2, SEO(HP)

From:        谷野平 <[FOI #832 email]>
To:        FOI requests at Department of Health <[Department of Health request email]>
Date:        05/10/2021 22:04
Subject:        Freedom of Information request - Problem with child
obesity and its link to sugar intake Efforts to reduce sugar in the diet -
StartSmart

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Dear Department of Health,

 1.                 We found the list of kindergartens  
[7]https://www.startsmart.gov.hk/en/school_...

that have signed up for the Charter. A total of 40% have signed up. Maybe
the situation is not good enough, do you have further plan to let more
schools participate in the Charter and how will you do

2.                 According to the background information
[8]https://www.startsmart.gov.hk/files/pdf/...

And what I want to ask is What will happen if the dietitian finds out that
the drink list does not comply with Charter? How often does this
non-compliance occur in the last round of checking?   Will the schools be
required to submit an updated list of drinks for checking if it orders new
drinks for the schoolchildren?

3.                 Does the government encourage the schools to use the
labels of low surgar/no sugar
([9]https://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme...
) to select drinks?

4.                 .For this program, nutritional guidelines have been
provided
:[10]https://www.startsmart.gov.hk/files/pdf/...).

How does the government promote the guidelines among the target audience?

How does the government assess the impact of this guideline on the
decisions made by the target audience?

5.                 What information or guidelines does the government
provide for the parents regarding nutrition and diets for children? How
does the government promote among the parents? How does the government
assess the impact of the information on the decisions made by the parents?

6.                 Education is not just a school business, but a parent
business. How do you increase the involvement of parents in the whole
thing?

If needed, please feel free to transfer our requests to other government
departments or bureaus.

Yours faithfully,

谷野平

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