NIH Launches We Can! City
Program —
South Bend and Gary, Indiana, and Roswell, Georgia, Are First To
Be Named
We Can! Cities Committed to Nationwide Effort to Prevent
Childhood Overweight
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has established the We
Can! City Program to assist towns and cities across the
nation in mobilizing their communities to prevent childhood overweight. We
Can! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition)
is a national education program developed by the NIH, a component
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to help
youth ages 8-13 maintain a healthy weight.
The first three cities to be selected for the program are:
- South Bend, Indiana
- Gary, Indiana
- Roswell, Georgia
NIH officials will present the mayor of each of the three inaugural
cities a specially designed road sign: "We Can! CityUSA — Working
with the National Institutes of Health to promote healthy weight,
healthy children." The presentations are part of two-day regional
events hosted by the NIH and local We Can! community sites
in Indiana (April 30-May 1) and Georgia (May 3-4). Each event will
be attended by 150 community leaders from more than a dozen states.
The events will showcase the local efforts and feature national
experts on the science-based curricula developed for youth and
for parents to promote healthy lifestyles.
"The National Institutes of Health developed We Can! to
bring to our communities research-based information and strategies
to teach children how to adopt behaviors that can help them maintain
a healthy weight," notes NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, M.D. "Through
the efforts of communities like South Bend, Gary, and Roswell, we
can make a difference."
As part of the We Can! City Program, NIH will provide
technical assistance on planning and implementing We Can! in
the participating cities, as well as materials such as parent handbooks,
posters, videos, and the one-stop resource "We Can! Energize Our
Community: Toolkit for Action." Each city has pledged to offer We
Can! evidence-based obesity prevention programs to both parents
and youth in collaboration with community-based partners. In addition,
each city will distribute We Can! tips and information
to city employees.
Childhood overweight is a growing national epidemic. The percentage
of children and teens who are overweight has more than doubled
in the past 30 years, and today one in three children ages 2-19
are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. Like adults,
overweight youth are at risk for health problems such as type 2
diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, heart disease,
and asthma.
To help address these issues, the National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute developed We Can! in
collaboration with three other NIH institutes: the National
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases;
the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development; and the National
Cancer Institute. The program offers parents, health professionals,
youth, and community groups evidence-based programs and activities
to help children ages 8-13 maintain a healthy weight.
We Can! focuses on three important behaviors: improved food
choices, increased physical activity and reduced recreational
screen time. For example, a curriculum for parents provides strategies
for maintaining “energy balance,” or the long-term balance between
energy in (calories from food) and energy out (calories used through
activity). Three curricula for youth teach important concepts such
as controlling portion size, reading food labels, learning new
physical activities, "weaning the screen" to reduce sedentary time,
and learning how media can influence their food and physical activity
choices.
When We Can! launched in June 2005, 14 Intensive Community
Sites, including the three inaugural We Can! Cities, were
selected by the NIH to pilot the nationwide program. Today, 173
communities in 39 states have joined the We Can! effort
as a We Can! community site. The We Can! City
program extends communities' efforts in towns and cities committing
to improving the health and well being of their youth by preventing
childhood obesity.
For more information on We Can!, visit http://wecan.nhlbi.nih.gov or
call toll-free 1-866-35-WeCan.
Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) plans, conducts, and supports
research related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment
of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; and sleep disorders.
The Institute also administers national health education campaigns
on women and heart disease, healthy weight for children, and other
topics. NHLBI press releases and other materials are available
online at: www.nhlbi.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's
Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and
Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting
and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research,
and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and
its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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