The National Health Commission Office (NHCO) has introduced a food and health programme at Phra Pariyatti Dhamma General Education Schools nationwide after finding almost one-quarter of novices were overweight.
Prateep Thanakijcharoen, the NHCO secretary-general, said his office launched the project with the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences of Chulalongkorn University and six other organisations to prevent child obesity among 33,000 novices. "We want them to understand food nutrition and maintain a healthy routine instead of choosing only food they prefer such as sweets, snacks or deep-fried food," he said.
