UK Doctors Link 41% Child Obesity Rate to School Absence After Covid Lockdowns

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 3

41% of 10- and 11-year-olds were overweight or obese at the pandemic peak, and UK doctors say missed school time has emerged as a key, overlooked driver of that surge.
18% of pupils in English state schools are now persistently absent, up from 10% in 2019, a shift doctors tie to worse diets, less exercise and greater isolation outside school routines.
39 NHS specialist clinics in England have treated more than 6,000 severely obese children, but the network reaches only 5% of those eligible and many patients also face bullying, mental health problems or neurodiversity.
Doctors say schools should be treated as a public health setting, with tailored meal plans, closer monitoring and more school-based health support, while warning weight-loss drugs alone are not a quick fix.
£12 billion is the estimated annual NHS cost of obesity-related ill health, underscoring why clinicians see getting vulnerable children back into regular schooling as central to tackling the crisis.