Driving Action and Progress on Obesity Prevention and Treatment Proceedings of a Workshop (2017) / Chapter Skim
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2 Two Decades of Obesity Prevention and Treatment
2 Two Decades of Obesity Prevention and Treatment
Pages 9-18
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From page 9... ...
Redstone Global Center on Prevention and Wellness at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health, moderated a wide-ranging discussion with three of the leading figures in identifying and responding to the obesity epidemic in the United States: David Satcher, founding director and senior advisor to the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine, and 16th surgeon general and 10th assistant secretary for health of the United States; Jeffrey Koplan, vice president for global 9
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From page 10... ...
The article was the subject of some pushback as to whether it was appropriate to label the increase in obesity an epidemic, recalled Koplan. That reaction was "good for the cause," he said, "because it permitted public health people and epidemiologists to say, ‘You're damn right it's an epidemic, and here's why.' It was an effective kickoff to introducing this to the press as a subject of interest and, of course, to professionals and the public as a subject of more than passing interest." In 2001 the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity was released, offering recommendations for families, communities, schools, health care, media and communications, work sites, and the federal government (HHS, 2001)
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From page 11... ...
At the same time, Koplan continued, key voluntary health organizations in the country have made obesity a top priority, as have individual communities and states. These efforts still need to be better coordinated, measured, and evaluated, he said, "but we have some potential best practices out there, and we have enumerable examples from cities and some states." THE PERSISTENCE OF DISPARITIES Satcher cited as one of the most influential experiences he has had since leaving government working with the World Health Organization's Commission on Social Determinants of Health.
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From page 12... ...
It has to be a part of how we train our medical and public health professionals. It has to be a part of what we track in terms of the research that we do when we're evaluating whether programs work or don't work." What was once seen as a U.S.
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From page 13... ...
"We're going to need to change overall our funding in communities and tie funding to collaboration if we want a multisector approach that addresses the social determinants of health," Murthy argued. During the discussion session, Shiriki Kumanyika, research professor for community health and prevention at Drexel University and founder and chair of the African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network, raised the issue of unintended consequences of implementing public health interventions.
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From page 14... ...
However, tobacco control is a more direct problem than obesity prevention and treatment, he pointed out. The toxic effects of tobacco are widely accepted, he noted, and commercial sources of tobacco are readily identifiable, whereas the commercial products that contribute to obesity are more benign in normal doses.
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From page 15... ...
His office has been working with city planners, local elected officials, and others to help them understand that making communities walkable is "a very powerful public health intervention." Koplan also advocated for policy changes that promote physical activity in communities and that are tied to funding. He suggested creating a
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From page 16... ...
Finally, Eduardo Sanchez, deputy chief medical officer for the American Heart Association, raised the issue of loose dogs, which in many ways act as a proxy for the lack of safety that can deter people from walking. Citing the city of Dallas as an example, he noted that, in some neighborhoods, loose dogs act as a powerful force against walking, reducing not only physical activity but also social cohesion.
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From page 17... ...
But Murthy has been encouraged by seeing what is possible, and he cited the example of a group of mothers who succeeded in removing advertising for unhealthy foods from the schools their children attended. "They didn't necessarily have a lot of money; they didn't have a whole lot of training; they were not public health experts," he said.
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