A new national assessment of the nutritional environments in schools in Macedonia reveals that unhealthy food and drink options are widely available and promoted in and around schools, while healthy options are limited, shaping children’s eating habits and making it difficult for them to choose healthy foods.
The research was conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Science (MES), the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Public Health Institute (PHI), with support from UNICEF, and covered 40 primary and secondary schools and around 1,700 children.
According to the assessment, in the absence of a national school nutrition program, many students buy food from school stores or vending machines. In all schools where food was sold – which represents 20 percent of the schools surveyed – the offer was entirely made up of unhealthy products.
