A SYSTEM-wide failure is leaving the vast majority of overweight and obese children without any form of treatment, an expert says.As new data show one in four Australian children is overweight or obese, Professor Louise Baur, professor of paediatrics and child health at the University of Sydney, called for regular Medicare-rebated health checks for children and electronic assessment tools for GPs to address the crisis. Most overweight and obese children were not being identified, diagnosed or managed, Professor Baur told a Healthy Lifestyle Forum in Canberra last week. For every 200 children who go to a GP, 60 are overweight or obese and only one gets offered therapy,” she said, while acknow-ledging the issue could be difficult to raise with...
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