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January 23, 2018
FEATURE
High school students highlighted healthy lifestyle issues at a recent SALSA – or Students as Lifestyle Activists – event.
WESTERN SYDNEY high school students, who recently spoke at a health event aimed at reducing childhood obesity, identified several local issues impacting healthy eating and exercise for kids.
Students from Blacktown Girls High School, Chifley College Mt Druitt and Rooty Hill High School presented their ideas to create a healthier environment to doctors, police and consumer organisations.
Safety and access were highlighted by the students as two major roadblocks to exercise and healthy eating.
Students from Blacktown Girls High School had conducted a survey that showed most kids felt unsafe travelling from Blacktown Station to school. They asked for better security at Blacktown Station and along the pedestrian route, which would not only improve community safety but encourage incidental exercise.
The group from Chifley College observed that the state of their local supermarket, where they can obtain healthy foods, repels people from visiting because it is in such a state of disrepair. Specific deterrents included the broken and dangerous barbwire fence around Emerton Shopping Village, as well as person-sized pot holes in its carpark. The students identified that these two things turn people away from shopping there; noting that while it sells healthy food, there is an array of fast food options directly adjacent that look more attractive. The students asked for the fence to be removed (or at least fixed) and the potholes to be repaired.
And the students from Rooty Hill High School pointed out their local skate park is both covered in graffiti and hidden away – raising issues of accessibility and safety. They asked for the skate park to be cleaned up and be made a more safe area.
The event was associated with the award-winning program, Students as Lifestyle Activists, or the SALSA program.
SALSA is a peer educational program that provides high school students with the necessary knowledge and skills to maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle. SALSA is a partnership project with the Mt Druitt Medical Practitioners’ Association, the University of Sydney, high schools in Western Sydney and the Western Sydney Local Health District. It is active in 31 schools throughout western Sydney.
“The peer education model is a really important factor in its success, with research showing it’s more effective than adults delivering similar messages,” said AMA (NSW) Vice President, Dr Kean-Seng Lim, who helped develop the project.
The program is recognised both nationally, and internationally. UNICEF has also recognised SALSA as a best practice prevention program.
A/Prof Smita Shah has been instrumental in orchestrating the program. She indicated it is particularly impactful in western Sydney.
“We know that western Sydney is a diabetes hotspot and that overweight and obesity is a significant problem here.
“We need to do everything we can to reduce these rates by preventing weight gain in the first place, helping people lose weight, and helping people keep it off.
“As everyone knows, losing weight is very hard, which makes prevention absolutely better than a cure.”
AMA (NSW) supported the students’ ideas in a letter to Blacktown Council, which has already resulted in improvements to the Emerton Shopping Village.
For further information, visit the SALSA website.