Signs of Progress Toward Reversing the Childhood Obesity Epidemic
By Matt Gruenburg, July 22, 2013
Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, providing opening remarks on July 9th.
Last December, we noted that some cities and states have begun to measure declines in their childhood obesity rates. As The New York Times put it then, these declines “offer the first indication that the obesity epidemic, one of the nation’s most intractable health problems, may actually be reversing course.”
On July 9, more than 250 people gathered in the gym of the National Capital Y in Washington, D.C., to hear from leaders representing four states and five cities or counties recording declines in their childhood obesity rates.
The event was hosted by Voices for Healthy Kids, a new joint initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and American Heart Association that seeks to help reverse the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. Burness Communications provides communications support to RWJF.
The diverse group of panelists―a nonprofit leader, school superintendent, foundation leader, city health commissioner, mayor, pediatrician, and more―highlighted policy successes they’ve led in their communities and shared strategies to overcome the challenges that remain. And while they each had their own take on what needed to be done, some key themes emerged over the course of the morning.
Almost everyone talked about the importance of partnerships. Lisa Harrison, health director of the Granville-Vance District Health Department in North Carolina, said that they’re working “with housing authority directors, with city and regional planners, with volunteer groups, with Boys and Girls clubs, with schools, with faith-based agencies, and so many others.”
Panelists and audience members alike described how essential it is to engage and work directly with everyone in the community. Notah Begay III, four-time PGA tour winner and founder of the Notah Begay III (NB3) Foundation, said “we know that in order to combat this thing from top to bottom we have to engage the younger generations as well as the parents and the grandparents.”
The local leaders and the discussion continued to energize the movement to reverse childhood obesity. More than 800 people were watching the live webcast of the event and chiming in via Twitter, where the event hashtag, #signsofprogress, trended nationally.
To learn more about the places highlighted at the event, visit www.rwjf.org/goto/signsofprogress.
Watch the Full Event:
