Newcomer kids to Canada face chronic health risks. Here's how these researchers hope to help
CBC
Try as she might, Momina Reza finds that it's difficult to get her kids to be active and eat healthy foods.
One of the biggest barriers for the single mom, who moved to Canada from Pakistan nearly seven years ago, is the cost.
"I ask about different programs and their prices, they are high for me and so I cannot afford that," said Reza, who lives in Hamilton, Ont.'s Riverdale neighbourhood.
Reza says her 11-year-old and five-year-old boys are "doing well," but she acknowledges that it's a "struggle" to even afford nutritious food for them.
And for other immigrants like herself, Reza says language barriers and long work hours can also make it difficult for parents to encourage their children to take part in extracurricular activities.
Barriers like these are likely contributing to health problems being seen in newcomer children, says Dr. Gita Wahi, a pediatrician at McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton, Ont.
Through her practice, Wahi says she's noticed an increasing number of newcomer kids are getting diagnosed with obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
"What we've seen in specifically childhood obesity is that newcomer children often when they arrive have lower rates of obesity, and over time, obesity rates increase to the current rate of the Canadian population," she said.
And she's not the only one to point this out.
In recent years, emerging research has found that immigrant kids in Canada are developing chronic adult health conditions as a result of their life circumstances.
Past Canadian research highlighted a healthy immigrant effect, which is when an immigrant's health deteriorates after they arrive and settle into their new country.
It's unclear whether that's also happening among children that arrive in Canada from other countries, but researchers say there are trends that indicate poor health in some young immigrants.
"We have a window by when children arrive and families arrive in Canada to make an impact to hopefully prevent obesity-related complications," Wahi told CBC News.
Dr. Sonia Anand, a professor of medicine at McMaster University, calls it an "alarming observation" that newcomer children from racially diverse backgrounds are developing chronic adult conditions, such as diabetes.
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