Māori and Pacific children comprise a relatively small proportion of the total New Zealand population, but are disproportionately burdened by obesity. Despite an escalating obesity burden in this country, there is a lack of investment in prevention strategies that take into account the multidimensional, complex interactions between individual and lifestyle behaviours. The article argues for the importance of public health policy that is underpinned by knowledge of the behaviour of complex systems and the recognition that population trends such as obesity emerge because of systemic interactions. For instance, active transport to school, to promote physical activity, may negatively impact nutritional behaviour if the food environment on the journey to school is obesogenic. The article goes on to point out that while the food environment is influenced by a community’s ability to advocate for regulation, political participation is constrained by both material deprivation and the influence of racism. It concludes that obesity prevention aimed at children has to enable and empower families/whānau and communities to make healthy decisions and must address/ redress political and power relationships that shape the material and social environments where children live.
