Last month a new report on the progress made by the Change4Life campaign during its first year was published online. ‘Change4Life: One Year On’ reviews the creation of a movement, the stages of the campaign.
You can read or download it here:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_112529
And, this week a new report highlighting the impact of the cross-government obesity strategy on individuals and communities was published. ‘Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: Two Years On’ sets out how the Government is helping people to make healthier choices, creating an environment that promotes healthy weight, ensuring effective services are available for those at risk and strengthening the delivery system to support frontline services.
You can read or download the report here:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_113486
Adults Campaign
Since launch on 20 February, the adults campaign is doing well:
• We have received over 7,000 online registrations from men and women and over 500 calls to the call centre.
• Already 146,000 ‘Swap It, Don’t Stop It’ leaflets have been ordered from the DH Orderline.
• We’ve published some great swaps content for adults on the Change4Life website: http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/Justforme.aspx
As this is a new audience, we are keen to recruit new Change4Life Local Supporters from amongst those who work on health improvement initiatives with adults – in healthcare, local authorities, workplaces, the third sector, communities etc. If you are aware of colleagues who might lend their support and benefit from the adults resources and web content, then please share this information with them. They can register on the ‘Partners and Supporters’ area of our website: www.nhs.uk/change4life
In a complimentary initiative, the Department for Transport has re-launched its Cycle to Work scheme, Find out more here: www.cycletoworkguarantee.org.uk
Some other initiatives that offer support for adults include:
• Walk For Health, which offers a ‘Walk Finder’ at http://www.wfh.naturalengland.org.uk/• Free swim offers: http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/sport/5809.aspx• Free swimming lessons: call 0800 14 222 14 (participating local authorities only)
• Muckin4Life: take part in environmental projects at http://muckin4life.direct.gov.uk/• NHS MidLifeCheck recently launched online health checker: https://www.midlifecheck.co.uk/• ‘My local area’ search the Change4Life database for local activities: www.nhs.uk/change4life
Employer’s Toolkit
We have recently created an employer’s toolkit to help us target overweight and obese men and women. We are asking employers (in both major organisation and SMEs) to support our adults campaign by showing the business benefits of encouraging their staff to make healthier lifestyle choices at work. From 15 March employer’s can order the toolkit by calling the Change4Life call centre on 0300 123 1502 and from 22 March the toolkit can be downloaded from the ‘Partners and Supporters’ area of our website: www.nhs.uk/change4life
BME update
This month sees the launch of our Change4Life activity aimed at Pakistani, Bangladeshi and West African communities. This activity includes TV commercials – featuring celebrities of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and West African origin who are well known and respected within their communities – and advertorials in key ethnic titles such as Urdu Times, Surma and African Voice.The campaign also promotes the Change4Life BME helpline (0300 123 1099) which families can call to request an information pack. The pack will include an English/Urdu or English/Bengali information booklet with tips and healthy traditional recipes aimed at Pakistani and Bangladeshi families. There will also be a booklet for West African families in English.
We are developing a BME toolkit that will include tips and advice for those working with families and posters and flyers in three languages. It will also include pre-recorded physical activity and cooking demonstrations, which will be available to download. The toolkit will be available in mid April but we have made the posters and flyers available to download from the DH website now: www.dh.gov.uk/change4life
Change4Life British Asian Sports Awards
The British Asian Sports Awards is a very high profile event in the Asian calendar and this year Change4Life was the partner sponsor of the event, which took place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on 6th February. It was a star-studded affair attended by many celebrities from the world of sport, entertainment and politics, such as Amir Khan and Denise Lewis. Change4Life was represented on the night by Mike Farrar the Sport, Physical Activity and Health Tsar. He presented the final and most prestigious award of the evening, for British Asian Sports Personality of the Year, to Isa Guhar who was recognised for her role in England’s World Cup winning women’s cricket team.
Commercial Partners
Mars Petcare UK, owner of brands including the dog food brands Pedigree and Cesar, has pledged to support Walk4Life by promoting healthier lifestyles to dog owners. They estimate that 5 million households in the UK now own a pet dog, which could become a key factor in the battle against obesity. To support this message, Mars is creating a new website which will encourage dog owners to make the most of walking their pet, as part of a healthier lifestyle. Once completed, the website will be promoted via brand websites, puppy packs, breeder packs, customer partnerships, leaflets and through emails to an established mailing list.
Aviva, the insurance group, is supporting Change4Life by promoting Change4Life messages to their customers that align with their MyHealthCounts programme. This private medical insurance programme encourages Aviva customers to lead healthier lifestyles, whether through small steps or large leaps, and rewards them with lower premiums. Aviva is also supporting Change4Life through its position as the number one sponsor of UK Athletics, using the Aviva UKA Academy grassroots programmes to promote active behaviour, as well as providing exposure for the campaign at Aviva's televised athletics events.
The Fitness Industry Association ran their MoreActive4Life campaign between July and August 2009, with 1000+ participating gyms and local authority providers offering a free day pass. There were also free walking groups and subsidised in-gym activity. 81,000 people took up the day passes and over 270,000 were involved in the walking groups and in-gym activity. In partnership with fellow Change4Life partner MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition .... Do It !) they launched the second stage of the MoreActive4Life campaign at the end of 2009, now running in 2010. It uses the Change4Life messaging as a platform throughout and is an innovative brief intervention specifically designed to enable the Health and Fitness Sector to proactively target and appeal to at risk segments of the population and help them lead fitter, healthier and happier lives.
Start4Life Roadshow
The Start4Life team have put together a series of free events to help introduce pregnant women and new parents to the most up-to-date expert advice on baby nutrition and activity. All the locations have been selected because of their low breastfeeding initiation rates and will take place in local children’s centres. They will focus on giving visitors more information on breastfeeding, introducing solid foods, active play and access to health professionals in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. The events started at the end of February and details have been posted on the Start4Life website: www.nhs.uk/start4life.
My Change4Life Cookbook
We've just launched a new online game on the Change4Life website. 'My Change4Life Cookbook' aims to make food fun for kids. It allows kids to customise their own cookbook by inserting a photo of themselves and picking a chef’s hat, then picking recipes from the Cook4life recipe book. They can choose their favourite healthy recipes, get tips on being a top chef and even make a shopping list. The idea is that once they are involved with making meals, they are more likely to start enjoying them - and so are the parents.
This web tool forms part of online offer emailed out to all registered users and compliments the fourth pack sent out to families by post in February. You can get to the 'My Change4Life Cookbook' via http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/MakeChangeMyCookbook.aspx
Let’s Dance update
The Let's Dance competition has now closed and we've received over 99 entries for the 'Dance with Diversity' competition and 79 of these are up on YouTube. You can view the entries at: www.youtube.com/letsdance. We will be announcing the winner very soon online and in the press.
New resources for schools
Some of our schools colleagues have given us feedback about additional Change4Life materials they would find useful in the classroom and so with support from DCSF, we are updating our schools pack to include some exciting new resources.
The updated schools pack, which will be available from early summer, will contain a set of six new posters, designed to speak directly to primary school pupils and suggesting simple lifestyle changes that can help them become healthier. There will also be a new tool to help teachers chart their pupils’ progress in the classroom, as well as an educational snakes and ladders game, reward stickers and info on healthy lifestyles for staff.
Local activity
We want to continue sharing information about great regional and local Change4Life activity, so here’s a taster of some of the current projects going on around England:
Let’s Dance with Change4Life in the North East – with support from Public Health North East and local partners, tango dance teacher and performer Liliana Tolomei has set up a series of free classes and social dances. They take place on the Let’s Dance weekend (6 and 7 March) in various locations in the north east including Dance City, Eldon Leisure Centre, St Joseph’s, Gateshead, Benfield Centre for Sporting Excellence and Wallsend Memorial Hall. Tango, jive, salsa and break dancing performances by professional dance couples and local groups are also promised. More info: www.lilianatolomei.com
Let’s Dance with Change4Life: Yorkshire Dance – Yorkshire and Humber area have put together a project called A Taste of Dance aimed at young people in the area. Working with Youth Dance Hubs and regional dance organisations the project will deliver new dance activity at targeted groups of young people. For more info email Kim at youth@yorkshiredance.com
Bristol City Council has made great use of all the Change4Life tools, resources and sub-brands to build on their local activity and online content. Highlights include promotion of their Swim4Life free swimming programme which has been hugely successful with 109,000 swims in the first seven months and has been granted an Olympic Inspire Mark (www.bristol.gov.uk/freeswimming) and their Active Family Challenge, a 12-week pilot project aiming to increase physical activity levels in families. More info: www.bristol.gov.uk/change4life
Sheffield Healthy Town – Sheffield, one of the nine Healthy Towns, has an impressive city-wide programme of Change4Life activity on the go, including encouraging more women to breastfeed with a peer support service and plans to launch a breastfeeding-friendly public place award scheme; Bike It! school scheme; local walking maps, and establishing a network of community health champions. More info:
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