The nation's first-ever large- scale community meeting to address the epidemic of overweight children convenes in Memphis on Saturday, January 21, 2006 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Memphis Cook Convention Center. The massive grassroots summit is the first in a series of interactive, high-tech meetings which will be held around the country to develop a national action plan for reversing the epidemic of childhood overweight and inactivity.ADVERTISEMENT Hundreds of Mid-South stakeholders, including parents, grandparents, youth ages 14 and older, business, civic and government leaders, urban planners, churches, educators and health care providers, will be the first to help bring about a national approach to get kids more physically active and eating healthier.
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen and Kenneth S. Robinson, M.D., Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health, will join Assistant U.S. Surgeon General Woodie Kessel, M.D., Deputy Director for Medical and Health Science, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at the meeting. Fran Kaufman, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital, Los Angeles and board member at the Institute of Medicine, represents the American Academy of Pediatrics as well as Shaping America's Health: Association for Weight Management and Obesity Prevention and will also be a presenter at the event. U.S. Senators Bill Frist and Ron Wyden, both sponsors of the Childhood Obesity Reduction Act, and Congressman Harold Ford Jr. will address the hundreds of participants via videotape. "Teaching our children healthy habits, such as regular activity and good nutrition, is the key to stemming health care problems associated with obesity in adulthood," said Senator Bill Frist.
"More than 15 percent of our children are overweight or obese - that's nine million children. Others have no access to regular physical activity or recreational facilities. The crisis can be solved but it will take a wide range of adjustments in the lives of our children," said U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., addressing what is now a widely acknowledged health problem. "We must continue collaborations across all sectors of American life to increase health literacy about the importance of daily physical activity and healthy eating."
Carmona underscored the importance of moving ahead on a comprehensive national effort to reduce childhood overweight and inactivity when he declared 2005 "The Year of the Healthy Child."
The unprecedented convening on this issue begins the next phase of an ongoing national initiative, Shaping America's Youth (SAY), which has gained national media attention over the last two years for its efforts. In September 2004, in conjunction with the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General and the American Academy of Pediatrics, SAY revealed the results of a national survey of over 1,100 childhood weight management programs from across the country. Survey results on those programs show, among other things, a desire for national dialogue on this important issue. The database and registration for new programs is available at http://www.shapingamericasyouth.org.
SAY, now the first national program of the newly chartered, Shaping America's Health: Association for Weight Management and Obesity Prevention, is a public-private partnership which includes the Department of Health and Human Services, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and founding corporate partners Campbell Soup Company, McNeil Nutritionals LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company, and NIKE, Inc. Additional corporate partners include Cadbury Schweppes, FedEx Corporation and CIGNA. The Mid-South town meeting is hosted locally by the Healthy Memphis Common Table.
Source: Press Release
