Healthier futures for hundreds of thousands of children thanks to healthy heart programme

Published: 24 July 2024

The Heart Foundation is celebrating the success of their Tohu Manawa Ora | Healthy Heart Award programme, which has been shown to significantly impact the health and wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of pre-schoolers across New Zealand.

2 toddlers having a healthy meal

The programme, designed to promote healthy habits in pre-school children, reached 34,000 children across 215 early learning services last year alone, and has achieved a significant social return on investment (SROI) in a recent report, which showed that for every dollar invested in the programme there is a social return of $4.50.

“We are incredibly proud to be celebrating this great news after 22 years of running the programme,” says Justine Munro, Head of Prevention at the Heart Foundation, “and to reflect on the reach and significant impact of our Tohu Manawa Ora | Healthy Heart Award programme.”

“Reaching so many tamariki is a testament to the dedication of early learning services, kaiako, parents and our team of nutrition advisors, who guide the services along their journey. This achievement signifies a commitment to nurturing the health and wellbeing of our children from a young age.”

“Our team have seen children around the country, trying new foods, taking on adventurous play, and developing key skills, like food preparation and balance. It’s rewarding to see these learnings come to life.”

The recent independent evaluation of the Tohu Manawa Ora | Healthy Heart Award carried out by ImpactLab, looked at the social, economic and health benefits of the programme including, improved physical health, reduced healthcare costs and improved educational outcomes.

“The Heart Foundation’s Tohu Manawa Ora | Healthy Heart Award has demonstrated a substantial social return on investment, and the programme exemplifies the power of prevention and early intervention,” she says.

“The evaluation has affirmed the programme directly contributes to improved oral health, physical activity and reduced diabetes for tamariki and indirectly contributes to improved health equity, nutrition, food exposure and physical activity, promotion of lifelong wellbeing and positive health behaviours, reduced cardiovascular disease and sugar consumption.”

The Heart Foundation is looking to increase the reach of the programme to more early learning services across the country to ensure that more children benefit.

For more information about the Tohu Manawa Ora | Healthy Heart Award programme, please visit https://hha.heartfoundation.org.nz.

 

 

View ImpactLab report

For media enquiries:  Communications Manager, Belinda Abernethy 027 586 1139

About the programme:

The Tohu Manawa Ora | Healthy Heart Award programme has been implemented since 2002 in early learning services nationwide. It achieves a sustainable change to the environment by using a ‘whole-service’ approach, mirrored by action areas in the World Health Organization Ottawa Charter of Health Promotion. Key components of the programme include:

Nutrition learning and teaching: Providing resources and training to educators and caregivers, including lesson ideas and skills for preparing and offering heart-healthy meals and menus.

Physical activity promotion: Encouraging regular physical activity through structured play, movement activities, and the creation of supportive environments for active play.

Whānau collaboration: Actively involving whānau in the programme through resources, recipes, storytelling and events that further reinforce the learning with whānau at home.

Creating supportive environments: Collaborating with early learning services to create environments that support healthy choices. This includes changes to policies, practices and the physical environment to make the healthy choice the easy choice for tamariki and kaiako alike.

About the Heart Foundation:

The Heart Foundation is New Zealand’s heart charity, leading the fight against our country’s single biggest killer – heart disease. The Heart Foundation is dedicated to improving heart health and reducing the impact of heart disease through education, research and support. With a focus on prevention, the Heart Foundation works to empower individuals and communities to make heart-healthy choices for a healthier future.