CHILDHOOD OBESITY PREVENTION, AN OPPORTUNITY IN THE POST COVID-19 STAGE

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused a crisis in health systems around the world, and has exposed the physical and mental vulnerability of populations. It has been observed that people with a BMI >25 kg/m2 increase the risk of mortality for COVID-19 by more than three times, and nutritional deficiencies in early life are known to be associated with higher prevalence of chronic diseases in adulthood. The aim was to develop a proposal for the prevention of childhood obesity and malnutrition in all its forms for the post COVIDC19 stage. The ecosocial model migth be more appropriate and relevant to the approach of childhood obesity prevention in the post-COVID-19 stage (1), since substantial changes are required in the policies that govern the economic, health and educational systems in their various fields (2), in addition to being accompanied by new legal frameworks, resulting in the allocation of resources to impact the community and social, beyond the clinical-biological approach to nutrition. Interventions should be based on a multi-component approach, integrating not only food strategies, education for nutritional health and physical activity, but also considering the environment as a whole, such as sustainable urban and educational development (3). In the post-COVID-19 stage, constant innovations in health will be required, for example, in the development of relevant educational models that are culturally respectful of children's development (4);which in general favour health self-care behaviours and attitudes, considering awareness actions that directly involve the carers in order to impact on their children's nutritional status (5, 6). For all of the above, it is necessary a true scheme of legislation and evaluation free of conflicts of interest (7). In the post COVID-19 stage, a restructuring of policies and schemes of approach is required, as well as a new understanding of strategies to combat child overweight and obesity, considering environmental, developmental, and parental and social care factors in childhood.