Evidence suggests that green spaces benefit children’s physical activity and healthy eating behaviors. However, inequalities on green space availability and accessibility in deprived urban communities in the Philippines compromise the generation of these health outcomes. Urban planning and development in the country mostly focus on developing roads, buildings, and other ‘gray spaces’ with limited considerations on the value of nature-based public health interventions. In this policy perspective, we examined existing evidence about the impacts of green spaces on childhood obesity and the determinants that influence green space use among children. We then proposed policy measures that could help in the development of child-centered and nutrition-sensitive green spaces in the country’s urban poor communities. To optimize the health-promoting benefits of green spaces on children’s health; availability, accessibility, type, safety, and social infrastructures should be considered in developing child-centered and nutrition-sensitive green spaces. We recommend that a green space policy should follow a wider multi-sectoral and systems-based approach by considering social, urban planning, financial, educational, and environmental interventions to holistically prevent childhood obesity in the country’s socioeconomically deprived urban communities.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.