Community-based obesity prevention initiatives in aboriginal communities The experience of the eat well be active community programs in South Australia.docVIP

Vol.4, No.12A, 1500-1508 (2012) Health /10.4236/health.2012.412A215 Community-based obesity prevention initiatives in aboriginal communities: The experience of the eat well be active community programs in South Australia 1,2* 3 4 1 Annabelle Wilson , Michelle Jones , Janet Kelly , Anthea Magarey 1 * 2 3 4 Nutrition and Dietetics, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia; Corresponding Author: annabelle.wilson@.au Discipline of Public Health, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle, Health Promotion Branch, SA Health, Government of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia Health Care Management, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia Received 5 November 2012; revised 10 December 2012; accepted 16 December 2012 ABSTRACT Aboriginal people in all stages of the project, in order to reach this group. Childhood obesity is a growing concern world- wide, and obesity rates are higher in certain groups in the developed world, including Aus- tralian Aboriginal people. Community-based obe- sity prevention interventions (CBOPI) can help to address obesity, however the approach of such programs to reach diverse groups, includ- ing Aboriginal people, must be considered. This Keywords: Obesity Prevention; Aboriginal; Community-Based Intervention; Indigenous; Qualitative 1. INTRODUCTION 1 The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity is rising across the world. Ten percent of the world’s school- aged children are overweight or obese [1] and currently in Australia 25.3% of Australian children, aged 5 - 17 years, are overweight or obese [2]. The risk of obesity is disproportionate across different groups and in developed countries, greater social ine- quality has been linked to a greater risk of obesity [3]. In paper consi