Improving Community Health and Prevention through the Healthy Eating Priority Area

This session will focus on the National Prevention Strategy (NPS) Priority Area of Healthy Eating. Key recommendations from the NPS healthy eating include:

1) Increase access to healthy and affordable foods in communities,
2) Implement organizational and programmatic nutrition standards and policies,
3) Improve nutritional quality of the food supply,
4) Help people recognize and make healthy food and beverage choices, and
5) Support policies and programs that promote breastfeeding. (National Prevention Council, 2011)

Many communities have been organizing to do this work over the past few years; however best practices are not yet clear and case studies are needed to identify lessons learned.
In this session, we will carry out an active, participant engaged discussion of focused topics that will inform the NPS leadership of possible areas for technical assistance resource development and shared learning. The focused topics for discussion are: (a) Building partnerships across sectors and diverse contexts (b) finding common ground, decision-making and power sharing (c) policy development at the local level (upstream and downstream issues and ripple effects); (d) enhancing capacities, mutual learning and sustainability. A brief summary of our shared understanding and common concerns will be reported back to the larger session for a response and future action from the national NPS leadership.