Lima, Peru: Healthier school environments
At the national level, Peru has historically suffered from high rates of child obesity. In 2021, the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima’s local congress unanimously passed a ground breaking law to improve access to healthier food for children locally.
Overview
Published: October 2021
Globally, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children is rising, and more than two thirds of overweight children now live in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). School food and nutrition policies that create a healthier food environment are one avenue to address this challenge.
At the national level, Peru suffers from high rates of child obesity. In 2010, only 9.3% of school children had eaten fruit and vegetables 5 times a day in the previous month. The Peruvian government passed a national law in 2013 to improve children’s access to healthy food – Law 30021, “Ley de Promoción de la Alimentación Saludable para Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes” – and a number of national programs were in place to support this commitment. However, there remained room for action at the local level.
Most recently, in 2021, the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima’s local congress unanimously passed a groundbreaking law to improve access to healthier food for children locally. The new law was developed through a participatory process with the Healthy Eating Environments Taskforce, a group of civil society organizations, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Commission of Public Health and Social Development of the Municipality of Lima.
Read the full case study: Lima: increasing access to healthy food in schools
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