On February 1, 2007 HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt unveiled the new HealthierUS Public Service Announcement (PSA) featuring characters from the popular Shrek movies. The purpose of the ad is to encourage children to be physically active.  To view the new PSA, please visit the HealthierUS website.

HealthierFeds Physical Activity Challenge
January 22, 2007 marked the launch of the HealthierFeds Physical Activity Challenge.  The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and Office of Personnel Management teamed up to encourage the federal family to be more active.  More than 38,000 individuals and retirees from all three branches of government and their family members registered on the President’s Challenge website.  Individuals must meet the minimum physical activity requirement of 30 minutes a day (60 minutes for children 6-17), 5 days a week, for 6 weeks in order to complete the program, which officially ends on April 1, 2007.  The agency with the highest percentage of registrants who complete the program will be recognized as the winner of this year’s Challenge.  The program was launched in conjunction with OPM Director Linda Springer’s designation of 2007 as The Year of the Healthier Fed.

National Children’s Study
The study has issued a request for proposals to award contracts to up to 20 new study centers. These centers will manage operations in up to a total of 30 communities across the United States.  Proposals will be accepted until 4:00 p.m. on April 17, 2007.

The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of environmental influences on human health and development by enrolling a representative sample of more than 100,000 infants from across the United States and following them from before birth until age 21.

The request for proposals represents the next step in implementing the study, which began in 2005 with the awarding of contracts to seven initial centers across the U.S. Visit www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov for more information.

View the request for proposals page.

National Diabetes Education Program
New Resources
Two new combination music CD/DVDs that encourage movement, Movimiento and Step by Step, are now available to help Hispanics and Latinos and African Americans incorporate more physical activity into their lives.  The CDs feature some original songs with strong beats and rhythms and empowering messages. The Movimiento CD also contains a music video, “Movimiento por su vida,” which can be viewed on a DVD player.  The Step by Step CD also contains a music video, “Every Day is a New Beginning,” which can be viewed on a DVD player. Order free copies or download songs from both CDs.

The Eagle Books are a series of four books featuring animal characters, Mr. Eagle and Miss Rabbit, and Coyote, who engage Rain That Dances and his young friends in the joy of physical activity, eating healthy foods, and learning from their elders about health and diabetes prevention. To order a teacher’s guide, download free coloring books, or find out how to order the Eagle Books, visit CDC's website.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) Data
The latest physical activity data from the YRBSS is summarized in the February 23, 2007 MMWR Surveillance Summary.  The report focuses on data collected in 2005 from 15 communities participating in the Steps to a HealthierUS Cooperative Agreement Program.  Additional data includes fruit and vegetable consumption and cigarette smoking.  Data show that 53.7%-95.1% of adolescents do not participate in a physical education class on a daily basis and 19.2%-43.2% of adolescents met current recommended levels for physical activity (60 minutes or more of physical activity on 5 of the preceding 7 days). View the report.

VERB Campaign Resources
Get information from the "VERB™ It's what you do" campaign.  Throughout 2006 the VERB team created several resources for communities and organizations to use when developing youth physical activity media campaigns and community events. Included are three action guidebooks and a VERB Activator CD.  Most of the information can be downloaded from the VERB website. State Chronic Disease Directors received multiple copies of the three guidebooks and the activator CDs.  Copies of materials can be requested through the VERB website. 

Office on Women’s Health
2007 Women’s Health Daybook, “It’s Your Time! 12 Months to a Healthier You”
The 2007 Women’s Health Daybook is a free resource that provides women of all ages with valuable health information and a useful calendar to keep appointments straight.  Topics covered include identifying the time to get certain health screenings and immunizations and why these are important; information on common health problems; prevention of some diseases and ways to manage these diseases; and hundreds of other useful tips from how to get a second opinion from a doctor to how to read a drug label.  Resources and hotlines where you can get more information are also provided.  Download a free copy.

And elsewhere…

Department of Agriculture-Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)
Check out the new resources available from the FNS Eat Smart. Play Hard. initiative.  Eat Smart. Play Hard. Power Plans can be used in a variety of settings including WIC clinics, schools, and adult and child care centers.  Each lesson requires about 20 minutes of teaching time and include links to all the resources and materials needed in order to implement the plan’s activities.

Report from the Stanford Prevention Research Center
The Stanford Prevention Research Center at the Stanford School of Medicine, with funding from the YMCA of the USA, produced the report Building “Generation Play”: Addressing the crisis of inactivity among America’s children. The 51-page report focuses on the many changes that will need to be made on individual, environmental (social and physical), and policy levels at home, schools and after-school sites, worksites; in communities; and by the media on all levels in order to increase physical activity levels and improve the physical and emotional health of America’s children.  Also provided are strategies for schools, parents, media, healthcare, industry, communities, and governments to effect change.

Report from Action for Healthy Kids
Learn about nutrition and physical activity programs across the nation that are experiencing success due, in part, to school leader engagement and endorsement in From the Top Down: Engaging School Leaders in Creating a Healthier, More Physically Active School Environment.  The report details programs such as a "Lunch & Learn" briefing for superintendents in Rhode Island, a principal-led training program in West Virginia, and the "Healthy Hoosier Award" in Indiana.