Modeling Obesity Prevention Programs to Reduce Overweight Rates at Schools: A Perspective

Childhood obesity is a public health challenge, with many risks affecting a child's long-term health. This paper explores the complexities of childhood obesity. It recognizes the role and influence that schools play in children's behaviors and leverages the school as a micro-environment to implement multiple levels of interventions. This work proposes an intervention to tackle childhood obesity at schools using system dynamics modeling. Its focus is on promoting healthy dieting, increasing physical activity, creating supportive environments, while interacting with multiple sectors and communities. We propose a measurable and sustainable intervention, spanning a three-year time-frame. System dynamics approach accounts for the dynamic nature of schools and pinpoints the need for well-structured and sustainable interventions. This evidence-based dynamic intervention model targets multiple factors that contribute to obesity, involving relevant stakeholders, and implements a long-term intervention to promote long-lasting behavioral changes that decreases the rate of prevalence of childhood obesity.