By Renée Thomas-Venugopal

AS a parent experiencing “First Day of School” for the first time, it was both exciting and overwhelming. I spent the last few months eagerly shopping for all the essentials a toddler needs to thrive in pre-school.

Yet this new journey was also an eye-opener to the unethical back-to-school marketing targeting kids. My public health brain couldn’t help but notice how unhealthy, ultra-processed products are cleverly designed to attract children and how they’re promoted as essential for your child’s lunch kit.

Like most parents, I believe it’s important to ensure our children are nourished with healthy foods and snacks during school.

The saying “healthy body, healthy mind” reminds us that nutrition supports physical health as the foundation for learning and well-being. That’s why it’s disheartening to see unhealthy foods normalised through pervasive advertising.

Even more concerning, these unhealthy food companies and fast-food restaurants continue to target children and youth to maximise their profits and flood our markets with their products while obesity, diabetes, and other preventable illnesses rise.

We need more voices speaking out and stronger advocacy to curb these unethical practices in the region. The Healthy Caribbean Coalition’s campaign, Let’s Do Better for the Children reinforced what we already know: we cannot allow unhealthy products to be marketed to children.

As parents, we share a responsibility to advocate for healthier environments for them. Undoubtedly, parents cannot do this alone. It requires a collective effort from the community to make meaningful change.

As the saying goes, “when you know better, you do better” and we know these products are harmful, so we need to protect our children from them.

We also know, if the burden of non-communicable diseases continues to rise, there are serious implications for our nation’s productivity and our already resource-constrained health system.

Therefore, our governments must act now to implement strong policies that ban marketing of unhealthy food products to our children.

The Let’s Do Better for the Children campaign is a stark reminder to all of us that we have a role to play in creating the future we want for our children.

As parents, we often speak to ourselves and discuss these challenges, but sometimes it never leaves the room. However, if we bring our voices together, we can push the needle on creating healthier environments for our children.

Whether you are a parent, caregiver, teacher, friend or policymaker we should all want what’s best for our nation’s children. It’s time to end the marketing of unhealthy food products to children. Our children deserve a strong healthy start to their lives and it is our responsibility to make that happen.

About the author: Renée Thomas-Venugopal is an Instructor at St. George’s University and a member of Grenada’s National Chronic Non-Communicable Disease Commission. She is passionate about strengthening Caribbean health systems and promoting health equity through teaching, research, and advocacy. Her volunteer work supports healthier communities, focusing on education, prevention, and improved access to care.