Let's Move - More Perspectives
While Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign is a very ambitious program, aiming to eliminate childhood obesity in a single generation, I believe it can be done. The program is designed to touch all aspects of children's lives. The four pillars of her program are education and awareness; improving the quality of food in schools; improving access to healthy foods; and physician education. Several ways that these will be initiated include:
1. The American Academy of Pediatrics together with the broader medical community, will educate healthcare providers to monitor childrens' BMI, provide counseling and write prescriptions for parents on how they can increase healthy eating and active play.
2. Reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act: the Administration is requesting an additional $10 billion over ten years starting in 2011 to improve the quality of the National School Lunch and Breakfast program, increase the number of participants and ensure schools have the resources they need to implement these changes.
3. Healthy Food Financing Initiative: a partnership between the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Agriculture and Health and Human Services that will invest $400 million a year to help bring grocery stores to underserved areas and help places such as convenience stores carry healthier food options.
4. Safe and Healthy Schools Fund: the U.S. Department of Education and Congress will work together to support schools with comprehensive strategies to improve their efforts to get children physically active in and outside of school, and improve the quality and availability of physical education.
I believe this campaign has a very real chance to be successful because of its scope; its plans to extend beyond educating families and motivating parents to find and serve healthier meals to actually creating the access to healthy food options, which is ultimately a driving force that will facilitate the goals of the program.
Mrs Obama's campaign is an exciting step forward for children in the U.S. and the public health community as a whole. The opportunity to end the obesity epidemic in just one generation has the potential to turn around the health of the entire country.
Posted by: Caren W, 4th March 2010 15:35
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“There are so many parallels here between the US and the UK (and other Western industrialised nations), and the Let's Move campaign mirrors our own government's Change 4 Life campaign. Jamie Oliver's focus on teaching cookery and healthy eating basics of nutrition both in the US and UK (Ministry of Food) also echoes the fact that modern living does not equal healthy living. Food for thought indeed.”
Anna K, 4th March 2010 15:50
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