Raising Healthy Children

Raising Healthy Kids will use a convenience sample of pre-school and kindergarten children between 3 to 5years from 3 private schools in the Accra Metropolitan area, Ghana. The program will use a three stage process to recruit participating schools that will receive program interventions. In the first stage of the process we will identify all privates school in Accra that has an early childhood development center. When this is done we will mail a package that consists of an application and information explaining the program, its objectives and eligibility requirements. Eligibility requirement includes having a well equipped play ground and a functioning kitchen with at least three working staff. Enrollment for eligible school is voluntary. Based on the number …show more content…
Teachers will be trained by a professional trainer on how to conduct a successful physical education class and how to develop an indoor and outdoor physical activity plan. The last workshop will be for the cooks to receive special training from a professional chef. They will be taught how to prepare fresh and healthier meals, how to store food properly, how to shop for fresh foods, and most importantly how to keep food from spoiling if the power goes out. Last, the chef will teach the school cooks how to present food attractively to children. This is important because presentation often plays a big role in influencing children to eat more fruits and vegetables. On the first day of implementation, teachers will use the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) index chart to record information like the children’s date of birth, gender, and date of measurement, height and weight. They will also use the CDC’s BMI calculator to calculate the body mass index (BMI) of each student. Based on the score of child they will identify those who are either overweight or are at the risk if being