Youth advocates are calling for tighter regulation of unhealthy food marketing targeting children, arguing that junk food deserves the same level of scrutiny society applies to tobacco and alcohol. According to Antigua Observer, the call comes from voices within the Healthy Caribbean Coalition who say current conditions in and around schools are actively harming children's eating habits.
Janet Simon, a youth advocate with Healthy Caribbean Youth, says the problem begins the moment children transition from preschool to primary school. While preschools typically restrict sugary snacks and drinks, she argues that standard vanishes at the primary level.
"Preschool sets a foundation for young people," Simon said. "Now, going into primary school, unfortunately, this is where we drop the ball. We allow outside influences because we must understand that conditioning is an important factor for our young people."
Simon says easy access to unhealthy snacks near schools has conditioned children to associate break time with junk food rather than nutritious eating. "When you check what they're really eating, for them, break, it's not them having a sandwich or something wholesome to hold them until lunch," she said. "Break is corn-curls, a soda, some fried chicken, tubes with sweets. Literally, almost anything unhealthy you can think of, the access is there. So they have been conditioned, and society has made it okay for this."
Healthy Caribbean Coalition Communications Officer Sheena Warner-Edwards drew a direct parallel to how governments have previously tackled harmful product marketing. "You spoke about alcohol, you spoke about tobacco, so there was a time when those things were also allowed to be marketed freely," she said. "Various legislation had to be put in place to kind of restrict those products, especially where there is marketing to children. The same goes for our school policies."
Warner-Edwards said Antigua and Barbuda is currently developing school nutrition policies modelled on frameworks already in place in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, with similar discussions underway in St. Lucia. She pointed to early encouraging results in Barbados, where vendors near school gates have begun offering healthier food options to students.
