Rider:
Goal: Reduce Obesity Level to 5% by 2030
On May 10, 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama joined Domestic Policy
Council Director Melody Barnes and members of the Childhood Obesity Task
Force to unveil the Task Force action plan:
Solving
the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation . In
conjunction with the release of the action plan, Cabinet Members and
Administration Officials will hold events across the country to
highlight the importance of addressing childhood obesity.
"For the first time, the nation will have goals, benchmarks, and
measureable outcomes that will help us tackle the childhood obesity
epidemic one child, one family, and one community at a time," Mrs. Obama
said. "We want to marshal every resource - public and private sector,
mayors and governors, parents and educators, business owners and health
care providers, coaches and athletes - to ensure that we are providing
each and every child the happy, healthy future they deserve."
In February 2010, Mrs. Obama launched the Let's Move! campaign to solve
the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation. As part of this
effort, President Barack Obama established the Task Force on Childhood
Obesity to develop and implement an interagency plan that details a
coordinated strategy, identifies key benchmarks, and outlines an action
plan to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.
Recommendations
The action plan defines solving the problem of childhood obesity in a
generation as returning to a childhood obesity rate of just 5 percent by
2030, which was the rate before childhood obesity first began to rise
in the late 1970s. In total, the report presents a series of 70
specific recommendations, many of which can be implemented right away.
Summarizing them broadly, they include:
- Getting children a healthy start on life, with good prenatal
care for their parents; support for breastfeeding; adherence to limits
on "screen time"; and quality child care settings with nutritious food
and ample opportunity for young children to be physically active.
- Empowering parents and caregivers with simpler, more actionable
messages about nutritional choices based on the latest Dietary
Guidelines for Americans ; improved labels on food and menus that
provide clear information to help parents make healthy choices for
children; reduced marketing of unhealthy products to children; and
improved health care services, including BMI measurement for all
children.
- Providing healthy food in schools, through improvements in
federally-supported school lunches and breakfasts; upgrading the
nutritional quality of other foods sold in schools; and improving
nutrition education and the overall health of the school environment.
- Improving access to healthy, affordable food, by eliminating
"food deserts" in urban and rural America; lowering the relative prices
of healthier foods; developing or reformulating food products to be
healthier; and reducing the incidence of hunger, which has been linked
to obesity.
- Getting children more physically active, through quality
physical education, recess, and other opportunities in and after school;
addressing aspects of the "built environment" that make it difficult
for children to walk or bike safely in their communities; and improving
access to safe parks, playgrounds, and indoor and outdoor recreational
facilities.
Like the Let's Move! initiative, the Task Force report recognizes that
government alone cannot solve this challenge. Achieving the goal will
require strong partnerships with the private sector. The First Lady will
work with groups such as the Partnership for a Healthier America, a new
foundation that will draw upon the experience of honorary vice chairs
former Senator Bill Frist and Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker, to
cement private sector commitments towards the shared goal of reducing
childhood obesity, including but not limited to the action steps in the
report.
Implementation
Additionally, Federal agencies will be moving quickly to implement the
recommendations in the report that require federal action. In the
coming year alone:
- The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) will release new
guidance for standards for physical activity and nutrition in child
care settings, and help consumers make informed choices at restaurants
and grocery stores, by getting calorie counts onto menus and by working
with the food and beverage industry to develop a clear, standard "front
of pack" food label;
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will update the
Dietary Guidelines and Food Pyramid to provide parents and caregivers
with helpful information about nutrition, and work with Congress to
pass a child nutrition reauthorization bill that improves food in
schools;
- The Department of Transportaion (DOT) and the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) will promote walking and biking to school, with a
new best practices guide from the DOT-funded National Center for Safe
Routes to School and new proposed voluntary "school siting" guidelines
from EPA.
- Federal agencies will also make funds available to local
communities, including $25 million from HHS to support obesity
prevention and screening services for children, and $35 million in
physical education program grants to schools from the Department of
Education, which will also be working with Congress to create a
Successful, Safe, and Healthy Students initiative as part of a
reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Source: White House
Created May 12, 2010
Teaser title:
White House Unveils Childhood Obesity Task Force Action Plan
Teaser text:
On May 10, 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama joined Domestic Policy
Council Director Melody Barnes and members of the Childhood Obesity Task
Force to unveil the Task Force action plan. The ambitious goal of the plan: reduce childhood obesity to 5%, which was the rate before childhood obesity first began to rise
in the late 1970s.