Journal of Research in Medical Sciences1735-199516420110415Childhood obesity and parks and playgrounds: A review of issues of equality, gender and social support68056805ENHammadAliQaziFaculty of Health Sciences, Health and Rehab Sciences, London, Ontario, Canada. hammadali420@hotmail.com201102152011040820110407The childhood obesity has been a growing concern over the last decade all over the world. Built environmental characteristics such as parks and playgrounds serves as a reference point for physical activity in children. The equality issues related to ethnicity, Social Economic Status (SES), gender and social support have been related with both physical activity and presence and quality of parks and playgrounds. However, only limited studies have these issues in children. The current paper is a general enumerative review that would discusses the above issues with respect to obesity in all age groups, giving particular emphasis to childhood obesity. The importance of this review is to further explore the importance and highlight the findings related to these issues, so that future original studies could be planned keeping these associations in mind.KEYWORDS: Childhood Obesity, Parks, Playgrounds, Gender, Social support.