"Prevention of Childhood Overweight and Obesity"

REMARKS BY:	Steven Galson, Acting Surgeon General
PLACE:	Charleston, WV
DATE:	Tuesday, March 11, 2008

"Prevention of Childhood Overweight and Obesity"

Remarks as prepared; not a transcript.

RADM Steven K. Galson, M.D., MPH
Acting Surgeon General
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Remarks at West Virginia “Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future” Kick-Off Event

Charleston, WV
March 11, 2008

"Prevention of Childhood Overweight and Obesity"

Good morning.

Thank you, Martha [Martha Walker, Secretary, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR)] for that gracious introduction.

It is my pleasure to be here with you.

My boss, Department of Health and Human Services (H-H-S) Secretary Michael Leavitt, and I extend our greetings and best wishes.

I have learned a lot since arriving in your great state yesterday … about what you are doing to create a healthier West Virginia.

I have met and spoken with West Virginia state officials and public health stakeholders; I am impressed by what I have seen and heard.

And, I salute Governor Joe Manchin and First Lady Gayle Manchin for their commitment to and leadership in the effort to ensure that your citizens, young and old, become fitter and more physically active.

As Acting Surgeon General, I serve as our nation’s chief “health educator” - responsible for giving Americans the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury.

I want to begin my remarks today by telling you about my priorities.

They are:

First, Disease Prevention - we spend the vast proportion of our health care dollars in this country treating preventable diseases. Yet, a modest increase in investment in preventing these diseases will save lives and precious health dollars.

My next priority is Public Health Preparedness - we must be prepared to meet and overcome challenges to our health and safety, whether caused by nature or humans.

For one of thee potential threats, pandemic flu, we have preparedness checklists on our website. These include checklists for individuals, families, schools, businesses, hospitals, long term care and child care providers, and community organizations.

Check them out, and check them off your to-do list.

Eliminating Health Disparities - Too many Americans in minority groups still suffer from illnesses at a disproportionate rate.

While, overall, our nation's health has improved, not all populations have benefited equally. Many Americans who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups experience disparities in health outcomes and health care.

It is imperative that things change, and I need your help to improve health care access.

Improving Health Literacy - This means acting to steadily improve the ability of an individual to access, understand, and use information and services to make appropriate health decisions.

We won’t make improvements in health care and prevention without our messages being understood through language and education barriers that exist in this country.

All of is, everyone here - any public health professional - can be an ambassador for health literacy.

The Purpose of Your Visit

As you may know, back in 2001, the Office of the Surgeon General released a “Call To Action to Prevent Overweight and Obesity.”

The CTA strongly urged all sectors of society to take action to prevent and decrease overweight and obesity.

The challenges which prompted issuance of the Call to Action still exist; some would save they are even MORE pressing now - 7 years later.

Quite simply, overweight and obesity are epidemic today and that is what brings me to Charleston today.

In addition to the social burden on our kids, overweight children are at far greater risk for numerous health consequences, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases I am visiting communities across the country to encourage discussions and implementation of best practices to address this alarming crisis.

I want to recognize and bring attention to communities with effective prevention programs to help motivate community organizations and families to work together to:

Help kids be more active
Encourage healthy eating habits in young people, and
promote availability and selection of healthy choices.

I know it seems easy to say and much more difficult to do.

Our society has become more and more inactive and is seeing a rise in obesity rates.

Chronic diseases linked to obesity have become a quiet catastrophe.

Chronic diseases cause 7 out of 10 deaths every year - and the costs are staggering.

Food is abundant, portion sizes have increased, and society has become increasingly sedentary.

Our efforts to reduce overweight among our Nation’s children are critical.

Childhood overweight prevalence has more than tripled for children ages 6 to 11 years since 1980. Today, approximately nine million children over the age of 6 are considered overweight in this country.

Imagine…, the population of New York City is 8.6 million people.

And physical activity rates among our youth are also declining: just a quarter of high school students are moderately physically active for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week- half the time needed for youth

Here in West Virginia:

14.5 percent of high school students were reported overweight in 2005; (Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2005), and
37.3 percent of high school students met currently recommended levels of physical activity in 2005 (Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2005).

Because the factors contributing to overweight and obesity are complex, reversing the epidemic will take concerted action, by parents, educators, and youth - indeed by all sectors of society.

That's why I am especially eager to move forward now in leading the Surgeon General's coordinating council to prevent childhood obesity.

Our “Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future” initiative - seeks to change children’s eating and activity habits.

The initiative concentrates on many of the people who influence our children including parents, caregivers, schools, public health leaders, the food industry and local community leaders.

We want to spread the word about “creative healthy ideas” - and the communities that support them.

The primary focus of “Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future” will be programs through which local communities address the problem of overweight and obesity.

One of the best illustrations of an effective local intervention tailored to improve children’s health and fitness is close to home. I am referring to the CARDIAC program at West Virginia University…

… recipient of a 2007 H-H-S “Prevention Award.”

CARDIAC's goal is to help provide, through collaboration with others, interventions that will facilitate knowledge, positive attitudes, and desired behaviors related to health risk factors, particularly physical activity and nutrition.

Also on the federal level, The President’s Council on Physical Fitness is initiating a new national fitness challenge. The Council was going strong when I was in grade school and it’s going strong today.

This “National President’s Challenge” is a 6 week physical activity challenge to get America moving - 30 minutes a day, five days a week. It’s designed to help people live healthier by finding activities they really like to do.

YOU can sign up on the web through April 3.

Still, you and I know that the federal government should not be alone, and cannot be effective alone.

As I’m traveling around the country, I’m collecting examples of locally-initiated programs that work.

The food, sports, beverage and entertainment industries must step up to the plate and do their part.

The American Beverage Association has worked with educational administrators in public schools to establish guidelines which limit those beverages available in public schools vending machines during the school day.

Local communities are doing likewise.

Under its “Initiative for Healthy Children,” the Austin, Texas School District also prohibited the sale or distribution of "Foods of Minimal Nutritional Value," during the school day, at all grade levels.

These items include carbonated beverages,

water ices not made with 100% fruit juice,

chewing gum products,

hard candies, jellies and gums,

candy coated popcorn,

and marshmallow candies, licorice, and cotton candy.

These foods cannot be sold or distributed to students during the school day.

Another good example is the National Football League, Ad Council and H-H-S collaboration to produce a Public Service Announcement designed to motivate young people to get the recommended 60 minutes of daily exercise into practice.

Few organizations have the visibility, resources or cultural stature of the National Football League, but anyone can get on board and join our effort.

Commitments like this - and I expect to see more of them - CAN make a difference.

However, the process starts here, in communities like Charleston.

… It starts with the promotion of healthy lifestyle activities conducted in local settings like this one.

… Perhaps it means becoming part of the “Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition" (WE CAN!) project, a national program to help children maintain a healthy weight. Some 555 communities and organizations have already done so …

… Perhaps it takes the form of creating a walking path …,

… Perhaps it means constructing an all-weather track for runners …

… Maybe it involves reserving a designated ‘physical activity’ space …

… Or sustained, community-wide promotion of healthy eating habits ….

We in H-H-S are helping on the physical activity front by issuing later this year inaugural Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

The guidelines will provide a consistent message for the American public about physical activity, one which will be flexible enough for use by children as well as other specific population groups.

The guidelines will send the messages that wellness is a hard-won habit, physical activity is important, and the adoption of a healthy lifestyle begins with simple, but important steps.

I recently met with the committee working on these guidelines, and they’re really interested in making the key link between activity and overall health.

Their work will be enormously helpful.

Closing and Charge

We will not achieve results against childhood overweight and obesity overnight.

But we won’t make any progress at all unless all of you commit with me to make this a prevention priority for all of the community-based stakeholders that can make a difference.

I look forward to working with you on our fight against overweight and obesity and my other priorities.

The end result of this work will NEED to be a population of physically active Americans centered on prevention, routinely conscious of diet and nutrition whose healthy choices add years and quality to their daily lives.

This outcome is one which can best be achieved through day-to-day efforts, collaborations among nutritionists and dieticians, fitness professionals, the federal government, research scientists, corporate leaders, parents, and kids themselves.

As I close - a final web address for your reference…

…One that I hope will be easy to remember. You can find more information on the Surgeon General’s website: www.surgeongeneral.gov

And…a final reminder: We can all be responsible for achieving the changes necessary to prevent childhood overweight and obesity. We can all be agents of cultural change.

Let us step up together to make a difference.

Thank you.

###

Last revised: March 23, 2009