LONDON (Reuters) - Models at London Fashion Week will have to prove they are healthy but there should be no ban on wafer-thin women, the British Fashion Council said on Friday.

Medical certificates must be provided from September next year by doctors specialising in eating disorders and the council recommended in a report that models under 16 should not be allowed on London's catwalks.

Spain and Italy have recommended banning models from catwalks with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18.5 but the expert panel behind the British report rejected use of the index because it was not an accurate measure of health.

"We have considered this carefully and listened to a range of expert views. But we do not believe a focus on BMI provides the way forward," the report said.

"We favour the alternative approach of promoting good health based on medical assessments of models participating in London Fashion Week." BMI is a measure of how much weight we carry per centimetre of our bodies.

The British report acknowledged there was a problem with eating disorders among models and recommended a health education and awareness programme should be launched urgently.

"During the investigation, evidence of the vulnerability of women in the modelling progression was startling and models are at high risk of eating disorders," said Denise Kingsmill, chair of the inquiry.

London Fashion Week runs from Sept. 15 to 20. The British Fashion Council organises the week and supports British designers.