While it’s just kid stuff, playtime is one of the keys to keeping in check the problem of child obesity in America.
Today, the U.S. Surgeon General announced a new nationwide action plan to address the problem of overweight and obese children in America today. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of overweight children more than doubled between 1980 and 2000. One in every seven kids is obese.
The initiative aligns the U.S. Surgeon General with the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The goal is to get communities across the U.S. to intervene and reduce the incidence of child obesity.
Dr. Richard Carmona, the U.S. Surgeon General, says “Our children are getting heavier. We have nine million kids who are overweight or obese and we have unprecedented rates of Type 2 diabetes. We even see kids with hypertension, so we’re seeing some significant problems related to this obesity epidemic. We have to break this cycle.”
This new web portal www.shapingamericasyouth.com is the only searchable registry of more than five hundred childhood overweight intervention programs submitted by schools and community youth organizations, healthcare providers, and government agencies.
The program isn’t a quick fix though. “We’ll have incremental gains even in my lifetime and yours, but the big gain is going to be in the next generation and the generation following them,” says Dr. Carmona.
Dr. David McCarron, a pediatrician and founder of the SAY program, states it’s “a public/private partnership committed to providing a national forum open to all organizations programs and individuals who seek to improve physical activity, nutrition and healthy lifestyles for our nation’s children.”
Parents, educators, and community leaders are encouraged to use the website to locate existing programs in their area or unique programs in other areas that can be adapted and used in their community. They’re also encouraged to register their program on the site.
“An obese child becomes an obese adolescent, and obese adolescents have an 80% chance of becoming obese adults with life-shortening complications. Prevention is the answer, rather than treatment,” believes Dr. Carden Johnston, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The program was created to share best practices between regions to help empower the entire country to keep America’s kids fit, and hopefully force changes in behavior that will result in a reduction in the incidence of childhood obesity.
The website can be accessed for free.
For more information click here: www.shapingamericasyouth.com.