With the nation facing a serious public health crisis from obesity, poor nutrition and physical inactivity, the federal government should follow Englands lead in the their efforts to halt and reverse the rising obesity epidemic. The United Kingdom has launched a healthy living campaign in a bid to stem rising obesity rates in England and Wales.
The strategy made clear the steps that government wants healthcare practitioners, alongside authorities, schools and the whole of public services to take, to ensure that not only are levels of obesity halted and reversed, but also that families and individuals are supported in a move towards adopting and sustaining healthier lifestyles. The challenges posed by an increasingly obesogenic environment are with us for the foreseeable future, and if left unchallenged will see levels of obesity rise to nine in ten adults and two thirds of children being obese by 2050.
Tesco, Kellogg's and Unilever are among the companies who will be promoting the "eat well, move more, live longer" message in the "Change4Life" strategy.
The initiative follows a Foresight report, published last year, which warned the government must act to stop Britain "sleepwalking" into a crisis.
The television adverts, which will run for three months, were put together by Aardman Animations, the people behind Wallace and Gromit, and are designed to appeal to families.
The Change4Life initiative branding will also be used by charities, local organizations and companies.
Unilever, the company behind Flora, will use the logo in its sponsorship of the London Marathon. The Co-op, National Convenience Stores and Tesco will have the branding in its shops and PepsiCo UK will run an advertising campaign to promote "active play" through sports personalities. The campaign will be running in Englandand Wales. Scotland is already promoting similar messages through the Take Life On program.
Source BBC News
A program called “Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities” by a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) brings promise to the communities of America. The program places special emphasis on reaching children who are at highest risk for obesity on the basis of race/ethnicity, income and/or geographic location. This initiative will advance RWJF’s efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.
RWJF will award approximately 60 grants to help local community partnerships across the United States increase opportunities for physical activity and improve access to affordable healthy foods for children and families.
Approximately 60 grants of up to $360,000 each will be awarded for four years. Nine communities already have received funding from RWJF as leading sites for the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities program.
Source: RWJF
Hopefully the program will be able to examine the nature, extent, and consequences of obesity in U.S.children and youth, including the social, environmental, and dietary factors responsible for its increased prevalence. Fitspott will continue to explore the actions needed to initiate, support, and sustain the societal and lifestyle changes that can reverse the trend among our children and youth.
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Posted by: Todd | May 12, 2009 at 05:06 AM