CYP Now - Analysis: Public health delivery plan - Playing for a healthier generation

While the Government's focus on children's health has been broadly welcomed, many professionals claim that funding is insufficient and that not enough has been done to develop more informal ways of raising activity levels. Asha Goveas reports.

Abby Young begins to cry as she steps onto the scales. At nearly 17 stone, the 13-year-old weighs the same as her dad.

But she is unable to overcome her aversion to exercise and her efforts to shed weight through aerobics, featured on Channel 4's Supersize Kids, prove short-lived.

Professionals have long recognised that sport is not the only way to boost children's activity levels. Many will have welcomed the Government's acknowledgement, in its delivery plan for the public health white paper published last week, of the "major contribution" that free outdoor play can make to improving children's health.

The plan highlights that children and young people need to experience informal and formal activities, from playing in the street to "active free play in well-maintained open spaces".

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