PFCD Submits Policy Suggestions to Newly-Created Interagency Task Force on Childhood Obesity
The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease recently submitted policy suggestions regarding the nation's childhood obesity crisis in response to a call for ideas from the White House’s newly-created Childhood Obesity Task Force.
"Childhood and adult obesity represents one of our nation's most pressing public health threats, with serious implications for not only rising health care costs, but also our nation’s competitiveness within the global economy," said Ken Thorpe, Ph.D., PFCD Executive Director.
"Obesity is associated with diabetes, heart disease, some cancers and other chronic illnesses, all of which pose an unsustainable cost to our country every year in health care dollars spent, as well as immeasurable loss related to preventable deaths from untreated chronic disease."
The PFCD provided suggestions to the Task Force regarding ways to solve the challenge of childhood obesity in the Nation within a generation, including:
- Remove barriers and empower Americans to take control of their health.
- Redesign our health care system to treat obesity like a preventable medical condition.
- Engage employers, schools and communities to get them invested in promoting wellness.
- Educate Americans to see being obese as a serious medical condition that significantly heightens their risk for other health problems.
- Ensure that fear about the stigma of obesity does not eclipse the need to combat it.
For each suggestion, the group provided special policy examples. The group also commended the Childhood Obesity Task Force, First Lady Michelle Obama and the White House for taking on such a complex and challenging initiative.
A copy of the PFCD’s submitted comments can be found here.
Several PFCD partners also submitted comments.
About the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease:
The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) is a national coalition of patients, providers, community organizations, business and labor groups, and health policy experts committed to raising awareness of the number one cause of death, disability, and rising health care costs in the U.S.: chronic disease.
For more information about the PFCD and its partner organizations, please visit: www.fightchronicdisease.org.
