With one in four children overweight when starting primary school, tackling childhood obesity is one of the greatest long-term health challenges facing the UK.
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, in collaboration with Kent County Council, recently launched a campaign to highlight the link between overfeeding bottle-fed babies and the onset of childhood obesity.
The trust hoped that by raising awareness and providing education to health professionals, they could help reverse this trend and support parents and caregivers more effectively.
To do this, they turned to Scriberia for help.
We crafted three compelling animations, packed with information to equip health professionals — from health visitors, midwives and GP nurses to nursery staff and playgroup leaders — with the tools and knowledge they need to increase their confidence in speaking to families about responsive bottle-feeding and responsive feeding.
Animation 1: What is responsive bottle-feeding and why is it important?
The animations are featured on the Kent NHS Early Years Professional Hub, where they can be watched in full. Each one was tailored to Kent’s unique local challenges, striking the right balance between educational and empathetic — for a topic that can often be sensitive.
“We needed a quick and engaging way for them to take the information on board and absorb it quickly. Animation was the ideal solution.”
Jo Treharne, Head of Campaigns and Digital, Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
Jo explains that the professionals they aimed to reach are often pressed for time: “They aren’t going to read a load of text on a notice board or in a leaflet. Animation enabled us to shape the narrative, control visual elements and get the messages across effectively in the clearest, simplest way.”
She adds, “Scriberia came up with a really lovely concept — using coats hanging on pegs in a classroom to illustrate the issue. When the children start school there’s one coat that’s a bit bigger, and when they leave school that goes to two. There are ways of getting things across in animation that you just wouldn’t be able to do with a leaflet or a PowerPoint.”
The animations were shared with health professionals across the county’s primary care settings, children’s centres and GP practices, as well as featured on the Kent Family Professional Resources Hub.
The impact has been impressive: before the campaign, 37% of health professionals said they felt extremely or very confident in discussing responsive bottle-feeding with families — this rose to 72% after viewing the animations. For health visitors, confidence rose from 70% to 97%.
Jo says, “The results really show how much these animations have been vital in increasing the confidence of health professionals in raising the subject of responsive bottle-feeding.”
She adds, “Interestingly, the biggest change was seen in early years professionals working in nursery settings — showing how effective the animations were for non-medical audiences. Overall, they’ve been vital in helping professionals raise the subject of responsive feeding with confidence.”