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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Barbara Polhamus, PhD, MPH, RD1, Robin Hamre, RD, MPH1, Dorothy Caldwell, MS2, Maria Bettencourt, MPH3, and Geanne K Lyons, MPH4. (1) Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, Mailstop K25, Atlanta, GA 30341, 770-488-5657, BPolhamus@cdc.gov, (2) NC Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, North Carolina Healthy Weight Initiative, 1916 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699, (3) Bureau of Family and Community Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington Street, 4th floor, Boston, MA 02108-4619, (4) California Obesity Prevention Initiative, California Department of Health Services, PO Box 942732, MS 675, Sacramento, CA 94234
The national prevalence of overweight in children and adolescents has more than doubled during the past twenty years to 13%, making excess weight the most common health problem for children and adolescents in the United States. In response to the obesity epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is building a statewide network of nutrition and physical activity programs to prevent chronic diseases and obesity through interventions that focus on population-based strategies, including environmental and policy-level change. States developing statewide plans and interventions for children and adolescents will share successes and challenges encountered in this process. North Carolina established effective statewide partnerships that resulted in an action-oriented task force to make recommendations for the state’s comprehensive plan to achieve healthy weight in children and youth, and to build support for the plan’s implementation by public and private partners. Massachusetts’ focus on improving the school environment through increased physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption, presented challenges that have been overcome. They are now developing a statewide infrastructure to address overweight through middle schools. California has successfully used a social marketing approach to target interventions to two youth age groups. An overview of overweight in childhood and adolescents and the CDC funded programs will be presented. Additionally, specific state strategies and “lessons learned” through efforts to promote healthy eating and regular physical activity by creating environments and policies as primary prevention strategies that support behaviors essential to reducing the epidemic of obesity will be discussed.
Learning Objectives: At the completion of this session, participants will be able to
Keywords: Nutrition, Physical Activity
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.