Within the School Screening Program, around 16 school nurses measure selected health indicators every year, including weight, height and selected other lifestyles variables in all ~5800 students in the C2, P4, S1 and S4 grades in all schools.
• Overweight and obesity are defined along standard age and sex specific criteria by the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF).
• In 2017, weight and height were measured in 3351 students from 5760 eligible students, a participation rate of only 58%. The disappointingly low participation rate in 2017, and in recent years in general, seems to be partially related to the fact that school nurses often cannot run the school program because of concurrent duties in health centers. This issue should be addressed urgently if the screening program is to be sustained in 2018.
• The prevalence of overweight or obesity in children aged 9-16 years (P4, S1 and S4) increased by more than two times, between 1998 and 2017, from 9.3% to 26.4% in boys and from 12.9% in 1998 to 28.5% in girls. The current levels are extremely high by international comparison. The steep linear increase over time, including in recent years, underlies a major public health problem.