Hon Steve Maharey
Minister of Education
Hon Annette King
Minister of Health
Hon Damien O'Connor
Acting Minister for Sport and Recreation
Hon Nanaia Mahuta
Minister of Youth Affairs

21 September 2007 Media Statement

Mission-on rolls on for healthy active lifestyles

The Ministers for Education, Health, Sport and Youth Affairs today marked the one year anniversary of the government's Mission-On campaign – aimed at improving the lifestyles of young New Zealanders by targeting improved nutrition and increased physical activity.

"Mission-On is an interagency campaign aimed at getting back to the healthy kiwi lifestyle that many of us take for granted. It’s about helping and enabling our young people to make good choices about what they eat and to be physically active," the ministers said.

"The 10 initiatives being delivered through the $67 million Mission-On campaign focus on children and young people aged 0 to 24, to help them establish and enjoy healthy active lifestyles so it's second nature throughout their lives.

"By giving children, young people and their families the tools and enthusiasm to become healthier, they can establish good habits early on. Experts agree that healthy eating and physical activity have positive impacts on health and wellbeing, and can help prevent or mitigate obesity-related disease. This is why the Labour-led government is targeting resources in this important area," the ministers said.

Mission-On is designed to create an environment that supports change and grabs the attention of young people through high profile fun activities and technology that ‘pushes their buttons’.

Ministers said there had been significant progress since the launch in September 2006, including:

- the release of ‘Food and Nutrition for Healthy, Confident Kids Guidelines’ for primary and secondary schools and for early childhood services;

- the release of ‘Food and Beverage Classification System’ resources to help schools and Early Childhood Education services make healthy food choices;

- the launch of a group of high-profile celebrity Lifestyle Ambassadors who visit schools, role-modelling healthy lifestyle choices;

- the inclusion of Mission-On messages and content in the popular after-school and Saturday morning TV show Studio 2 and its website the hub.tv;

- a national advertising campaign aimed at families, schools and communities illustrating tips for healthy lunchboxes for kids;

- celebration of student-led achievements schools have made in the area of health promotion in 18 schools throughout New Zealand;

- the launch of three media campaigns aimed at moving children and young people away from computer and TV screens during the school holidays - by providing activity cards and motivating them to come up with their own sports activities;

- an amendment to schools' National Administration Guideline 5 (effective from June 2008) whereby schools are to make only healthy food options available where food and drink is sold on school premises;

- the launch of three new Active Families initiatives under the Green Prescription programme (a programme where general practitioners can prescribe physical activity as part of a patient’s health management) in the North Shore, Waitakere and Porirua;

- an agreement between the Government and beverage industry in December last year, to remove full-sugar and energy drinks from schools by 2009; and

- agreement between the Government and the New Zealand Television Broadcasters' Council to improve food advertising to children.

"This is an extremely important campaign and it is great to be able to look back and see that a lot has been achieved. However, changing behaviour takes time and we know there is still a lot of work to be done," the ministers said.

Planned activities over the next six to12 months include a new children’s TV cooking and activity game show called Activate; launching an interactive Mission-On website for five to 12 year olds; implementing a ‘Walk the Talk’ initiative to help government employees model healthy activity and nutrition choices at work, and further expansion of the Green Prescription programme to reach more young people and their families.

Mission-On is an interagency campaign implemented by SPARC (Sport and Recreation NZ), the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and supported by the Ministry of Youth Development.

For more details about Mission-On, visit www.sparc.org.nz

ENDS

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