Dukoo

Childhood overweight and obesity is a major social problem because of its negative health consequences and rising healthcare costs. The Combined lifestyle intervention (GLI) is described as most effective in the recent guideline ‘Diagnostics, support and care for obese children’ (Partnership Overweight Netherlands/VU, 2022) and should be available in all municipalities by 2030 (National Prevention Agreement VWS, 2018). The aim is to improve lifestyle related to exercise, eating and sleeping. Healthcare professionals involved are paediatric physiotherapists, dieticians, youth nurses and paediatricians. In practice, however, it appears that the effectiveness of current care is not optimal and not all overweight and obese children are reached. Due to increasing numbers of overweight and obese children on the one hand and shortages of professionals in care, it is expected to become even more difficult to provide appropriate support to all children and young people in the future.