Addressing The Issue of Childhood Obesity
Kimberly Richmond
Eng 122
Jaclyn Mallan – King
October 28th, 2010
Tackling Childhood Obesity
Ever since the 2001 release of former Surgeon General David Satcher’s groundbreaking
report, “ The Surgeon Generals call to Action to prevent and decrease Overweight and
Obesity,” the pressure on states and communities to address obesity has steadily
increased. Obesity in childhood has reached epidemic proportions, and brings with it a
variety of chronic health problems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that one in three American children born will become diabetic unless they improve their diets and start exercising more. Co morbidities associated with obesity Childhood obesity is a high profile public health issue, but one that does not lend itself to a straightforward approaches or answers. Designing comprehensive approaches to combating childhood obesity requires public health system to integrate their efforts with other systems that may have different organizational cultures, protocols, and perspectives. Many of the approaches to reducing childhood obesity center around creating healthier home and school environments. The Youth Risk Behavior System consist of national, state and urban school distract surveys of representative samples of high school students. Conducted every 2 years. these surveys monitor health risk behaviors among young people so that heath and education agencies can more effectively target and improve programs. These behaviors, often established during childhood and early adolescence, include tobacco use, unhealthy dietary