Officials of the Ministry of Health released the Bahamas Global School Health Report 2025 last week at a press event held at the Office of the Prime Minister.
Among other things, the report revealed that obesity rates among school aged children has risen from 7% to 21%. Dr. Cherita Moxey explained to reporters that these numbers are major shift in the health profile of a generation. She said, “compounding this only 6% of teens meet the daily recommended amount of fruit and just 10% meet the recommendation for vegetables down from 14% and 31% respectively. At the same time, teens who daily or almost daily consume sugary beverages has surged. In fact, it has nearly tripled from 28% to 81%. In stark contrast, fewer than 1 in 5 teens drink enough water.”
Dr. Moxey also revealed the numbers associated with the physical activity of teens. “In 1998, 36% of teens got sufficient physical activity. Today, this has dropped by more than half to just 15%. Meanwhile sedentary behaviour sitting, reclining, laying down has soared from 55% to 72%.”
The numbers in the Bahamas Global School Health Report 2025 are derived from a survey of 2213 respondants from 35 schools across the country.
