The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), recently hosted training in Bermuda to enhance the skills of healthcare personnel in child growth monitoring and development. A central focus of the sessions was the use of the World Health Organization (WHO) child growth standards, an evidence-based global tool that more accurately reflects how infants and young children should grow under optimal health conditions.
Director of the Department of Health, David Kendell, said: “Monitoring child health, growth and nutrition is vital for building a healthier Bermuda. By adopting the WHO child growth standards, we can more accurately identify when a child is at risk of undernutrition or overweight and intervene early.
“Unlike the older CDC charts, which describe how children grew in a specific U.S. population decades ago, the WHO charts provide a universal gold standard based on how children should grow in the best possible conditions. This shift ensures our healthcare system is not only more prevention-focused, as outlined in the Government’s Throne Speech, but also more responsive to the needs of Bermuda’s children.”
During the training, participants were equipped to standardise growth monitoring using the WHO’s 2006 child growth standards for ages 0–5. Practical application assessments helped improve the accuracy of recording and reporting child growth indicators. CARPHA representatives, Ms. Abigail Caleb and Dr. Heather Armstrong, also shared findings from the study report, Evaluation of the Monitoring of Growth and Development for Infants and Young Children in the Caribbean Public Health Agency Member States, and provided country-specific training on the collection, collation, analysis and reporting of information related to child growth and feeding practices.
David Kendell added “The adoption of WHO charting is critical for Bermuda. The charts reflect the growth patterns of healthy infants and provide a more accurate picture of both undernutrition and childhood obesity, two issues that can impact health throughout the life course. Using the WHO charts helps avoid the misdiagnosis of "failure to thrive" in breastfed babies whose growth patterns may not align with the older, predominantly formula-fed reference population of the CDC charts”
This training underscores the Ministry of Health’s ongoing efforts to prioritise prevention, equip healthcare professionals with the best available tools, and ensure healthy growth and development for Bermuda’s children.