JUMP18

In 2021, the Jump18-Aruba Childhood Obesity Prevention Program was set up and formally became a foundation this year. Since its inception, we have invested in making the program accessible to children between the ages of 4 and 18 years who are #overweight or #obese. Our results to date after 5 cohorts of 18 children have been consistently positive, with significant improvements in the childrens’ overall health and well-being, self-esteem, increased stamina, and weight loss. Furthermore, the families of children who have participated in the intervention have (in)directly benefitted from the program, which has been an unintended but welcome benefit. The #JUMP18 program has consistently received positive feedback from the #Aruban community. The minister of health, Mr. Danguillaume Oduber has also endorsed the program as one of the pillars of the Island’s National non-communicable disease prevention implementation plan.

The program’s success to date has been partly due to the generosity of our sponsors and partners and the hashtag#JUMP18team, who have believed in the philosophy and goal of the program. Besides Franz Sydow and Claudienne Fernandez, some of the people who have consistently supported hashtag#JUMP18 include Lennert van der Poel, Henry van den Berg, Judelca Briceno, Amy van der Linden, Samantha Schwengle, Samantha Daal-Lacle to mention a few. We are grateful to many local organizations, ENNIA hashtag#WEB, hashtag#SETAR, and institutions like Xavier University School of Medicine, Maastricht University University of Aruba.

This year, again, we thank the organizers of the Diabetes Run and Walk event: Botica di Servicio Aruba, HealthyLifestyleCenter, Caribbean Mercantile Bank N.V. SubwayAruba that resulted in the sum of 15,000 AWG. This sum will go a long way to help us start with the next batch of children in 2025.

If you feel inspired to contribute to JUMP18’s campaign to tackle childhoodobesity, you can contact us through our website: www.jump18.org, email: [email protected], or donate directly to the foundation account: JUMP18 FOUNDATION-ARUBA CHILDHOOD OBESITY PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION PROGRAM. Bank account: Caribbean Mercantile Bank (CMB) 65704002, Aruba (Swift:CMBAAWAX).