Overview

Nutritional surveillance data are essential to effectively designing, implementing and evaluating policies and strategies aimed at counteracting childhood obesity, which remains an important public health problem in the WHO European Region. The WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) – a systematic process of collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of descriptive information for use in monitoring excess bodyweight and in programme planning and evaluation – was established in 2007. Kyrgyzstan joined the WHO European COSI study in 2017/2018 (fourth round). This fact sheet summarizes some of the highlights of the COSI Kyrgyzstan report, using data from 8011 children (7–8-years-old) from 150 primary schools.